EU Commission to sign partnership with Australia on critical raw materials

The European Commission will sign a strategic partnership with Australia on critical raw materials, a source familiar with the matter told Euractiv, as the EU continues its drive to secure access to these materials from sources other than China.

Separately, the Commission’s Director-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Kerstin Jorna, told Euractiv that four partnerships are “in the negotiation [stage] or ready for signature”.

The EU is trying to reduce its dependency on China for critical raw materials that are key to the bloc’s green and digital goals. These materials include lithium used in batteries and rare earth minerals crucial for electronics.

The mission of Australia to the EU and Canberra’s trade agency, Austrade, did not respond to Euractiv’s request for comment on this story by the time of publication.

Australia is rich in lithium, and for five years the two jurisdictions have tried to negotiate a bilateral free trade agreement which would have loosened import controls for other goods as well, such as cars and beef.

But trade talks collapsed in November 2023, reportedly over the beef sector.

A strategic partnership usually outlines some common areas of cooperation, rather than define trade terms. The EU’s strategic partnership with Canada on critical raw materials is approaching €10 billion “of European investment in Canada in the raw materials and battery” sectors, Jorna said.

Just last week, the Council of the EU gave its final approval to the Critical Raw Materials Act, legislation that aims to achieve Europe’s independence goals.

In line with the Act, the EU is signing strategic partnerships to ensure access to these materials, most recently with Norway.

The CRMA defines a list of 17 strategic elements, such as cobalt and copper, and an expanded list of 34 critical materials, which includes coking coal.

The legislation sets ambitious goals for the supply of strategic elements:

By 2030, the bloc’s annual consumption will be composed of at least 10% locally extracted minerals, 40% elements processed within the EU, and 25% from recycled materials.

In the same timeline, no single third country will supply more than 65% of Europe’s annual consumption of any of the key materials.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]

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