European Commissioner Thierry Breton urged European financiers this week to provide more funding to suppliers of minerals needed for the energy transition, as the European Union prepares its Green Deal industrial plan. The EU is due to unveil its Critical Raw Materials Act on March 8 to secure the bloc’s supply of critical raw materials including lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese and graphite needed for electric vehicles. Breton highlighted two major issues. The first is over-reliance on countries such as major producer China for materials such as magnesium used in electronics, cars and machinery. The second is the ... (full story)