Η ΕΕ επιθυμεί να μειώσει την εξάρτηση από δυνάμεις όπως η Κίνα για την προμήθεια ορυκτών μέχρι το τέλος της δεκαετίας. Καθώς ανεβαίνουν οι γεωπολιτικές εντάσεις, το EU DECODED διερωτάται αν ο συνασπισμός μπορεί να συμβαδίσει με τους ανταγωνιστές του.
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00:00Υπότιτλοι AUTHORWAVE
00:30Υπότιτλοι AUTHORWAVE
01:0017% are prioritized as strategic.
01:03They include cobalt, lithium, manganese and nickel, used in electric vehicles,
01:08and gallium, copper and silicon metal, used in solar panels.
01:12The Critical Raw Materials Act sets targets for the EU to extract 10%,
01:17process 40% and recycle 25% of the strategic materials it consumes by the end of this decade.
01:26Part of the EU's strategy means mining, but also refining and recycling more raw materials at home in Europe.
01:34The European Commission recently selected 47 new strategic projects in 13 EU countries.
01:41But how do Europeans feel about the prospect of mining returning to their backyards?
01:47Unabhängigkeit finde ich nicht verkehrt, wenn man anbetracht der Abhängigkeit jetzt,
01:51glaube ich, auch gerade das Thema mit den Abhängigkeiten von chinesischen Erden und so.
01:55Ja, ich befürchte, dass das Bergrecht so gestaltet wird,
01:59dass die Gemeinden wenigstenspruchsrecht haben, beziehungsweise Mitspracherecht.
02:03Und ich meine, Brüssel ist weit weg von irgendeiner kleinen Posemuckel-Gemeinde.
02:07Oh, also ich meine, es hört sich danach an, dass vielleicht Arbeitsplätze geschaffen werden können, was gut ist.
02:12C'è il fatto che ci sono i cinesi che fanno come gli pare, per cui, ma anche gli stessi americani,
02:19poi non parliamo dell'Africa, dei cinesi in Africa, per cui,
02:22io dico che, secondo me, smettiamo di farlo,
02:26perché c'è qualcuno che si sporca le mani al notte del nostro conto.
02:30Io sono d'accordo, però comunque servirebbe una forte campagna di informazione,
02:35anche da un punto di vista veramente scientifico.
02:37Robert Hodgson is our senior energy and environment reporter,
02:42and he's been following the Critical Raw Materials Act for Euronews.
02:46Robert, thank you for joining us.
02:47First, can you tell us why there's such a rush here in Brussels to both mine more at home,
02:53but also to diversify Europe's mineral suppliers?
02:57Two reasons. First of all, demand for these minerals is rising,
03:01because they're needed for the energy transition,
03:03modern technology, and now weapons is becoming a more significant factor.
03:08The other problem that Europe has is that over years they've developed dependencies
03:12on other countries for the supply of these things,
03:14that not much is produced in Europe.
03:16Brussels also is looking further afield.
03:19It's been running this diplomatic campaign to strike agreements
03:22with various third countries.
03:25They say these are like-minded third countries.
03:27Is this campaign to strike these deals working?
03:31Well, the diplomatic offensive began in 2021
03:34with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Canada,
03:37which I suppose you can quite happily call like-minded.
03:39and it's also a powerhouse of minerals production.
03:44They've followed with several others.
03:45The next one was Ukraine, and that was signed just six months before the Russian invasion.
03:50Since then, they've built up the number of these MOUs to 14,
03:54and they have other countries, including Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo,
03:59and it's becoming more evident that there's a problem around the sort of moral questions
04:04around whether we should be doing business with a certain country.
04:07Rwanda has come into focus recently because the Rwandaan military
04:12has been supporting rebel groups in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo,
04:16and there's been credible reports from the UN and NGOs
04:18that minerals are being smuggled across the border into Rwanda
04:21and then exported to Europe, and these are sort of known as conflict minerals.
04:27You can see the same moral questions arising in Ukraine
04:30because the EU has its Memorandum signed with Ukraine,
04:33but at the same time, the Trump administration has been pushing Ukraine
04:37to sign a deal with the US in exchange for continued military support.
04:42Well, they want access, essentially open access, to all of Ukraine's mineral wealth.
04:46Thirteen EU countries have been selected for new raw materials projects,
04:50but domestic measures aren't enough.
04:52The EU has also struck partnerships on minerals with 14 world countries,
04:58including Australia, Chile, and the DRC.
05:02This is to reduce dependencies.
05:04For example, the EU relies on China for 100% of its rare earths,
05:09Turkey for 98% of boron,
05:12and South Africa for 71% of platinum.
05:15Joining me now to delve a little bit deeper into the Critical Raw Materials Act
05:20is Eduardo Rigetti, who is a researcher in energy resources and climate change
05:25at the CEPs think tank here in Brussels.
05:28The Critical Raw Materials Act was conceived to kind of support
05:32and underpin the European Green Deal,
05:33but now we're seeing a push to rearm Europe.
05:36Does this mean also that the Act is becoming even more critical and strategic for the EU?
05:41Yes, it is true that the aerospace and defence sectors also heavily depend on critical raw materials.
05:48Applications such as aircrafts or vessels and ammunition,
05:52as well as satellites and other space applications,
05:55all require materials like rare earths, graphite, cobalt, and others.
06:00One of the goals of the Act is to actually increase the amount of critical raw materials
06:05that the EU recycles by the end of this decade.
06:08If this is a possibility and an attractive route for the EU,
06:13why are we not doing more of this, the recycling, already?
06:17For most of these materials, recycling rates are still relatively low,
06:20and this is because from one side we do not have enough technologies
06:25that have reached the hand of life yet,
06:27but at the same time it's due to other more structural issues,
06:30related to, for instance, technical issues with recycling,
06:33as well as the cost of recycling.
06:34Given that there is a potential trade war heating up between the two biggest world economies right now,
06:42do you think the EU needs to consider other policy options
06:46to address its vulnerability when it comes to sourcing raw materials?
06:51Now, there are several elements within the Act that go in that direction,
06:54from the improvement of risk monitoring efforts, including through stress testing,
07:00but also the requirements for large companies using these materials.
07:03Now, all these elements, together with other medium-to-long-term strategies,
07:08such as setting up partnerships with resource-rich countries,
07:11can help mitigate supply risks.
07:14But at the same time, of course, we know there's no one single silver bullet,
07:18and even setting up these systems will take time, especially in the EU.
07:21In an energy transition and a global arms race,
07:26the demand for minerals will only increase.
07:29But competition is aggressive and could revive historic inequalities.
07:34Trump is demanding access to Greenland, Canada and Ukraine's mineral wealth.
07:38In places like Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
07:42the mineral rush continues to drive conflict.
07:46The European Union still says it's counting on a secure and sustainable supply.