Market mulls 'limited' EU strategic project funding

Market: Battery materials, Metals
02/04/25

Market participants had mixed reactions after the European Commission granted Strategic Project status to 47 critical materials projects, securing €22.5bn investment to bolster the bloc's homegrown battery supply chain.

The listed €22.5bn is not yet allocated, but the commission will work with funding bodies such as the European Investment Bank and other private institutions to advise on distribution.

The commission did not offer a deadline for funding allocations, but stated that permit-granting will be cut to 27 months for extraction and 15 months for processing or recycling projects, down from current waiting times of up to 10 years.

The commission also maintains that the sum of expected overall capital investment will be enough to bring all 47 projects on line (see map).

"Securing Strategic Project status is likely to bring key advantages, including better access to finance and investment," Vulcan Energy chief executive Cris Moreno told Argus."It will enable us to scale our operations and ensure long-term sustainable lithium production for Europe's mobility transition."

One carmaker told Argus the commission's decision offers projects more of a "seal of quality" than a decisive cash injection, the significance of which has divided participants.

"Funding is indeed limited considering the size of individual investments," a spokesperson from Finnish majority-state-owned energy firm and battery recycler Fortum told Argus. "In general, one could say that cost of refinery or battery materials manufacturing capacities are easily 1bn — each." Others estimate the average cost for a project closer to $2.5bn.

The EU's fast-tracked timelines for these projects might also be delayed by the handling of appeals against its permitting decisions, Fortum added, perhaps over the climate and local community.

EU funding dwarfed by China, US

The EU's €22.5bn of earmarked funding pales in comparison with China and the US.

Chinese state subsidies into the electric vehicle (EV) supply chain tipped $45bn in 2023 alone, while the US invested more than $50bn last year into all clean energy under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) (see graphs).

"From a lithium perspective, it is nice to see some action in Europe but many of the projects are at best mediocre," Global Lithium podcast host Joe Lowry told Argus, citing high costs and an overall "mining unfriendly continent".

"I welcome it, I think it's very good news", consultancy EV Outlook founder Roger Atkins said. "Almost inevitably, some will fail, some will thrive — they would've anyway, but this definitely helps."

Participants speculated as to whether EU Strategic Project status will encourage enough additional investment to get projects under way.

"I don't know all 47, but for [Swedish graphite producer] Talga, this will allow it to attract the investment it's been looking to close in on, but I'm certain production in Europe could benefit from more collaboration — even between competitors," Atkins added.

"There is an annual forum in China going on since 2015, called China EV100, to get industry actors and politicians in the room. It's not for profit, so it's open to everyone, just an organic process of managing change. It wouldn't harm Europe to basically copy it."

By Chris Welch

EU's 47 strategic projects

Annual Chinese state subsidy estimates $bn

US manufacturing investments by stage of supply chain $bn

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