In December 2025, the European Commission adopted a new action plan called RESourceEU. The strategy is designed to speed up the implementation of the European Union Critical Raw Materials Act last year, and comes on the heels of the UK Critical Minerals Strategy launched in November.
As a reminder, the EU CRM Act had set the following key targets for 2030:
That the EU should have the capacity to extract 10%, process 40% and recycle 25% of the strategic raw materials it consumes. Within the same time frame the EU should diversify its supply so that it does not depend on a single country for more than 65% of its demand.
It now has only five years to reach that ambitious target. The European Commission said it now aim to reduce its dependencies on a single country of origin by 30% to 50% by 2029 at the latest for battery, rare earth or defence-related raw materials value chains.
Keeping CRM scrap in Europe
An important recognition in the RESourceEU document is the need to strengthen EU recycling, especially when it comes to permanent magnets and battery chemicals, given its urge to reduce reliance on the world’s largest REE producer and battery chemicals processor, China.
In terms of battery scrap, EU science advisors, the Joint Research Centre, estimates that the EU could treat around 50% to 65% of the black mass it produces , delivering 1m EV battery packs a year. However, most of Europe’s black mass is still exported for reprocessing to Asia. However, from September 2026 lithium-ion batteries and black mass will be classified as hazardous waste in the EU, which means that exports to non-OECD countries will be prohibited.
Collection of end-of-life products in the EU is averaging 40%, the Commission said, and less than 1% of rare earth elements are recycled in the EU, meaning premanent magnet scrap leaves the EU or ends up in landfill. In Q2 2026. the Commission plans to issue a directive banning exports of permanent magnet waste and scrap.
While technology outside China is still playing catch up, The EU believes that ensuring raw material supply and funding incentives upcoming rare earths processors Carester and Solvay in France or Inspiree in Ital Solvay’s could deliver a capacity to produce 3,800 t/yr pf rare earth permanent magnets in the coming year, equal to 20% of today’s demand.
The EU has recognised that it needs to up its game on foreseeing and tackling critical mineral supply vulnerabilities. The RESourceEU action plan entails setting up a critical minerals intelligence centre, as well as stockpiling mechanisms inspired by JOGMEC in Japan as well as stockpiling agencies in the US and South Korea.
Stockpiling and matchmaking
Similarly to the UK, the EU is looking at stockpiling critical raw materials, especially for the defence industry, bringing together its member states’ individual efforts into a co-ordinated pilot in 2026. But, like the UK, rather than centralised state control, in this, as in other aspects of strengthening the CRM supply chain, it is looking at private investment, or using public finance to de-risk what is a private investment.
Its key instrument in that will be a matchmaking platform to connect buyers and suppliers of strategic raw materials, financial institutions and stockpiling service providers. Interested buyers would be able to pool their demand purchase raw materials, including securing agreements for early-stage CRM projects without breaking EU antitrust rules. The first round of such matchmaking is due to take place in Q1 2026.
Easing regulations
It is also looking to support nascent extraction and manufacturing projects with public financing, and a speedier permitting regime. The Commission plans to issue a guiding document to help member states harmonise and simplify their environmental permitting processes for mining and downstream CRM projects, and it plans to revisit regulations such as the Water Framework and review the implementation of chemical safety directives including revision of the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation and the Carcinogens, Mutagens and Reprotoxic Substances (CMRD) directives to balance safety with the need to build CRM supply chains.
In 2026, the EU promises to back its RESourceEU action plan with at least €3bn to accelerate domestic projects. Of this, €2bn of it coming mainly from Invest EU, a strategic investment fund led by the EIB focused on funding EU critical minerals projects along the value chain, from R & D to production. The low-carbon industries focused EU Innovation Fund is set provide another €700m next year to clean tech manufacturing, for projects along the clean tech industries value chain such as are earths permanent magnets and batteries.
The Commission has called another EU fund , the €1.8bn Battery Booster, set up to fund projects specifically focused o battery cathode and anode materials, i.e. lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese and graphite, to stump up to €300m for EU supply chain projects next year.
A partnership co-funded by EU member states and third countries under Horizon Europe is expected to finance research and innovation projects along the CRMs to the tune of €300m. Funding will also be made available under the Global Gateway’s initiative, the EU’s smaller scale answer to China’s Belt & Road, for strategic critical mineral mining projects in non-EU countries to ensure they prioritise EU offtakes.
