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EU must follow US Inflation Reduction Act with strong policy on critical minerals, Eurometaux says

European metal industry association Eurometaux has called on the European Commission to follow the lead shown by the Inflation Reduction Act and deliver a “powerful” policy to support the industry in the EU while it tries to keep up with the move to a new generation of energy markets

January 26, 2023
By Sayaka Kurata
Aluminium Base metals Battery materials Critical minerals Electric vehicles Inflation Reduction Act Supply chains

The call for a new policy came in a position paper by Eurometaux published on Wednesday January 25, in advance of a European Council special meeting on February 9-10. EU leaders will discuss any response to the Inflation Reduction Act at this meeting, the EU confirmed.

In the paper, the industry association said that any industrial plan must accompany Europe’s own Critical Raw Materials Act in providing a stronger signal on investment and competitiveness across the full clean-energy-technology supply chain.

It also urged the European Commission to follow the US in prioritizing strategic raw materials throughout the supply chain equally. It welcomed improvement in permitting and financing for new mining, processing and recycling efforts in the upcoming Critical Raw Materials Act.

“The US Inflation Reduction Act, while discriminatory, has shown what a proactive clean-tech industrial policy could look like,” Evangelos Mytilineos, president of Eurometaux and chief executive officer of Greek aluminium company Mytilineos, said in a letter to the European Commission.

“Its predictability, value-chain approach, funding and tax incentives are driving new investments into US minerals production,” he added. “We in Europe should be inspired by its example.”

Eurometaux proposed five key recommendations to support the industry. These included providing streamlined and comprehensive EU financial support for strategic supply chains, reducing EU electricity prices through the use of renewable sources, and setting EU production targets, incentives and projects, fast-tracking them for the full clean-energy-technology supply chain.

In addition, the association said that the Critical Mineral Materials list should be expanded to include aluminium, copper, zinc, high-purity manganese, neodymium, dysprosium, praseodymium, terbium, iridium, silver, germanium and others.

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