“Without true autonomy over critical raw materials, even the transition to electric vehicles could pose severe risks, shifting our dependency from Russian fossil fuels to an even greater dependency on raw materials from China,” stated Adolfo Urso, the Minister of Enterprises and Made in Italy, at a Withub conference in Rome focusing on the European energy market.
Urso expressed confidence in the ongoing renegotiation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Pnrr), aiming to more effectively direct the already allocated European funds and those from the RePower EU initiative towards interventions that will immediately contribute to achieving energy and environmental sustainability goals.
“We aspire to collaboratively develop an industrial strategy that prioritizes the resilience of supply chains and the security of raw material supplies, essential for the transition to a new ecological and digital industrial era,” Urso added.
He further highlighted that during the recent Competitiveness Council, the European Commission noted a projected 42-fold increase in lithium demand over the next twenty years. By 2030, the need for critical raw materials for digital technology is expected to rise four to five times compared to current levels.
“Therefore,” the Minister concluded, “we must reallocate resources from targets that are unlikely to be achieved by 2026 to those that are more crucial for supporting the ecological and digital transition, and above all, that can be realistically accomplished within the tight timeframe imposed by the Pnrr.”
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