EU aims to reduce dependence on China with lithium from Serbia and graphite from Ukraine

The EU Commission has identified 13 strategic raw materials projects to ensure Europe's supply of raw materials for defense, energy, and digitalization. These include lithium and graphite mines in Serbia and Ukraine.

The list includes a planned lithium mine in Jadar in northern Serbia and a graphite project in central Ukraine – both projects that the EU hopes will reduce its dependence on China for battery production and other technologies.

It is the second list of its kind to be published since the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) came into force last year, following the announcement of 47 projects in the EU in March .

“Today the Commission is signing its second act on the road to independence in the field of raw materials,” said EU Industry Commissioner Stéphane Séjourné on Wednesday.

The list also includes projects from the United Kingdom, Greenland, Zambia, and Australia. Séjourné described them as "essential for the EU, for our sovereignty in these geopolitically tense and turbulent times."

He reiterated the CRMA's objectives of mining at least 10 percent of critical raw materials such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese and graphite within the EU by 2030, while increasing processing and recycling capacities to 40 percent and 25 percent respectively.

“In addition, we will diversify our imports, as no single third country should supply more than 65 percent of our annual consumption,” added Séjourné.

Projects deemed strategically important may receive EU funding in areas such as access to finance and contacts with EU industry partners. Total investment for these projects is estimated at €5.5 billion.

Natural resources of Ukraine

Ukrainian Environment Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk, who spoke with Séjourné in Brussels, welcomed the launch of the Ukrainian project.

"I hope this is just a first example for Ukrainian companies," she said. Despite the delays caused by the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Hrynchuk stated that Kyiv continues to implement the Memorandum of Cooperation in Critical Minerals signed with the EU just months before the war began.

“Together with colleagues from the EU Commission and the countries of the European Union, we will finance and invest in projects in the field of critical minerals,” said the Ukrainian minister.

“We will continue to implement European regulations into Ukrainian legislation, including in the minerals sector,” Hrynchuk added, apparently referring to the environmental and safety standards that Ukraine must meet as a candidate for EU membership.

While the Commission insists that all listed projects meet high environmental standards, NGOs complain that controls in certain countries are inadequate.

Civil society groups in Serbia—also an EU candidate—have long raised concerns about transparency and environmental protection. Other countries on the list are not required to align their standards with those of the EU.

Robin Roels, coordinator of the NGO platform EU Raw Materials Coalition, warned that the list includes mining projects in countries with “poor environmental monitoring”.

“Without clear criteria, safeguards and public disclosure, these projects risk repeating colonial patterns of resource extraction,” he added.

(rh, de)