The European Court of Auditors (ECA) published a Special Report titled Critical raw materials for the energy transition – Not a rock-solid policy, concluding that the EU is falling short in securing the raw materials it needs to meet its energy and climate goals. Import diversification efforts are not producing tangible results, domestic production faces persistent bottlenecks, and recycling remains underdeveloped. Against this backdrop, many EU-supported projects are unlikely to deliver in time.
INTRAW and Latitude Five have reviewed the report and identified two transversal concerns that cut across all five pillars of the ECA’s assessment. First, the Commission lacks accountability on the minerals agenda: targets are non-binding, methodologies to assess progress are absent, and institutional ownership is fragmented across multiple Directorates-General with no coherent coordination. Second, the Commission lacks the value chain understanding and vision needed to act effectively — a gap shaped by Europe’s disconnect from global mining and minerals, and by European industry’s limited commitment to investing in the resilience and responsibility of mineral supply chains.
The ECA’s five pillars of improvement span the full policy landscape: the incomplete financial foundations underpinning EU raw materials policy; the failure of external action and strategic partnerships to diversify imports; the financial, legal and administrative bottlenecks hampering domestic production; the untapped potential of sustainable resource management and recycling; and the serious risk that many EU Strategic Projects will not secure supply by 2030.
Impact will depend on how stakeholders engage with these findings — with the Commission, the European Parliament, and EU and Member State institutions — to convert audit conclusions into tangible policy outcomes.