Mining at the Core: Europe’s Clean Industrial Deal Needs Raw Material Sovereignty

The European Union’s Clean Industrial Deal promises to position Europe as a global leader in climate-neutral industry, green innovation, and strategic autonomy. But this vision rests on a fragile base: the availability of critical raw materials. No wind turbine turns, no electric vehicle drives, no battery stores power without a steady, sustainable supply of metals and minerals. And yet, Europe today depends overwhelmingly on third countries—often with questionable environmental and governance standards—for these vital inputs.

The Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) was a crucial first step in recognising this dependency and outlining an industrial strategy to reduce it. It sets clear targets for extraction, processing, and recycling within Europe, and aims to increase the resilience of supply chains that underpin our green and digital transitions.

But achieving these targets is a political challenge as much as an industrial one.

From Policy Ambition to Project Delivery

At the heart of the CRMA is a call to reindustrialise responsibly. Yet today, launching a new mining project in the EU remains the exception rather than the rule. Out of a thousand exploration efforts, only a handful reach production. The reasons are not geological, but political and regulatory: long, unpredictable permitting timelines, inconsistent interpretations of environmental rules, and administrative delays continue to hinder investments.

Modern mining in Europe already operates to the highest environmental and social standards globally. But a core political contradiction remains: every environmental objective—on water use, land, emissions, and energy—may be individually attainable, but taken together, they can become mutually exclusive. For example, reducing water discharge through osmotic filtration can massively increase energy use, compromising energy efficiency targets. A Clean Industrial Deal requires an honest reckoning with these trade-offs. A cross-policy review to resolve such regulatory bottlenecks is overdue.

Europe must enable—not just govern—the extraction of raw materials. Environmental safeguards are critical, but they must be applied with scientific realism and policy coherence.

Strategic Autonomy Needs a Business Case

On the industrial side, the question is simple: why isn’t investment flowing into European mining at the pace needed? Despite soaring demand for lithium, nickel, cobalt and rare earths, investor confidence remains low. The reasons are clear: high operational costs, energy price volatility, and regulatory uncertainty deter long-term commitments.

If the Clean Industrial Deal is to create opportunity, it must present a viable business case. This includes:

• Energy market reform to ensure affordable and predictable energy prices, crucial for energy-intensive industries like mining;
• Clear permitting rules and timelines, with guidance across Member States to avoid legal ambiguity;
• Financial instruments to de-risk investments, including CAPEX support and insurance against price volatility;
• Dedicated recognition of exploration as a distinct activity in need of a simplified, fast-track permitting regime.

Mining should not be treated as a last resort or a procurement issue, but as a strategic industrial asset. Otherwise, Europe risks powering its green economy with high-carbon imports—undermining the very goals of the Clean Industrial Deal.

Political Leadership for Social Acceptance

A third pillar of the challenge is public perception. Mining in Europe too often faces blanket opposition, fuelled by outdated views of the industry. But modern mining—responsible, technologically advanced, and transparently regulated—can and does operate in harmony with environmental goals.

Social acceptance, however, is not the sole responsibility of industry. It must be a shared project between companies, governments, and communities.

Clear public communication, real local benefit-sharing, and political leadership are needed to demonstrate that responsible mining is not a contradiction, but a requirement for climate action and strategic independence.

Without this, the Clean Industrial Deal will fail. Investments will be driven to less regulated jurisdictions, and Europe will remain exposed to geopolitical and environmental risks it cannot control.

Mining as Opportunity

The CRMA, and the broader Clean Industrial Deal, offer a rare chance to reimagine European industrial policy. Strategic autonomy and ecological sustainability are not in conflict—but aligning them will require difficult decisions and coordinated political action.

Mining is not Europe’s industrial past. It is a critical part of its industrial future. The continent that gave the world the Industrial Revolution must now lead a new one—one that is clean, sovereign, and grounded in responsibility. But we cannot build wind turbines with wishful thinking, or batteries with bureaucracy. We need the raw materials—and the political will—to make it happen.