09/09/2020

Study on the EU’s list of Critical Raw Materials 2020

The fourth list of Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) for the EU has been published by the European Commission on 3 September 2020. The study can be downloaded from here: Study on the EU’s list of Critical Raw Materials 2020 and lays out:

  1. the challenges posed to a secure and sustainable supply of raw materials;
  2. presents the outcome of the 2020 criticality assessment – the 2020 Critical Raw Materials List for the EU;
  3. sets out an action plan of how to overcome said challenges.

In 2020, the list contains 30 materials as compared to 14 materials in 2011, 20 materials in 2014 and 27 materials in 2017. Bauxite, lithium, titanium and strontium are new on the list as compared to 2017, while helium is no longer considered as a critical raw material.

The overall results of the 2020 criticality assessment are presented in Figure 1. Critical raw materials (CRMs) are highlighted by red dots and are located within the criticality zone (SR ≥ 1 and EI ≥ 2.8) of the graph. Blue dots represent the non-critical raw materials.

Figure 1: Economic importance and supply risk results of 2020 criticality assessment