Germany wins most EU strategic raw materials projects in second selection round

Germany is home to eight of the 46 new raw materials projects that the European Commission has declared "strategic" to secure supplies for batteries, magnets and other clean technologies, more than any other EU country, the economy ministry (BMWE) has said. The projects range from lithium mining in eastern Germany to recycling batteries and the magnets used in wind turbines and electric motors. 

"The fact that four of them are recycling projects alone shows the potential of the circular economy for supplying critical raw materials," the ministry said in a press release.

Raw materials such as lithium, cobalt, copper and rare earths are essential for electric car batteries, wind turbines and power grids, and the EU depends heavily on China to supply and refine many of them. China has increasingly used this dependence as a trade lever over the past two years, adding urgency to EU efforts to build up its own supply chains. 

Germany, Europe's largest industrial economy, is particularly exposed given a high share of Chinese imports of lithium and other materials, but had only three projects on the first list published in 2025, which comprised 47 projects in the EU and 13 in non-EU countries.

EU Classification as “strategic” mainly means faster permits, the ministry said. Approval procedures are capped at 27 months for mining projects and at 15 months for processing and recycling projects, it said. Such procedures can currently take up to ten years, the Commission said, according to a dpa report. The label does not automatically come with EU money, but the Commission said it facilitates access to relevant EU funding instruments and supports interaction between project promoters and financial institutions. "The chosen projects are also often seen as more attractive by investors, thanks to the assessment of sustainability and technical feasibility, faster permitting, and overall funding facilitation," the Commission said.

The 46 new projects are spread across 16 EU countries and are expected to need around 21.1 billion euros in investment, the Commission said, according to a Reuters report. They are meant to help the EU meet the goals of its 2024 Critical Raw Materials Act, which says that by 2030 the bloc should mine 10 percent, process 40 percent and recycle 25 percent of the strategic raw materials it uses each year. Progress on the first batch of projects has been slow, and some developers warned in August that projects could fail without urgent funding, reported Reuters.

The EU's own auditors have also questioned how much the label can achieve. In a special report published this year, the European Court of Auditors pointed out that the Critical Raw Materials Act does not provide any EU funding for strategic projects, and that “many projects will struggle to secure supply for the EU by 2030.”