Critical Raw Materials in the EU Regions. Balancing Autonomy, Technological Transition and Economic Growth

This dissertation investigates the European Union’s strategy for securing Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) within the framework of Open Strategic Autonomy (OSA). Against the backdrop of rapidly increasing demand driven by the green and digital transitions, the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) establishes ambitious 2030 targets for domestic extraction, processing, and recycling, with the aim of reducing the EU’s dependence on geographically concentrated foreign suppliers. The dissertation first evaluates the feasibility of these objectives by comparing the EU’s natural endowment of Strategic Raw Materials (SRMs) with that of major global economies and by examining their geographical distribution across European NUTS-2 regions. The findings show that European SRM resources are generally below global averages and are highly concentrated in a limited number of regions, particularly in the Nordic countries and the Iberian Peninsula. These results highlight the geological and territorial constraints affecting the expansion of domestic supply and raise questions about the effectiveness of a predominantly top-down and target-driven policy approach. The third chapter provides a complementary contribution by examining innovation in the mining industry and its regional determinants. Mining innovation is particularly relevant because technological progress can improve productivity, reduce operational and environmental costs, enhance recovery rates, and make previously uneconomic mineral resources commercially viable. The analysis shows that regional specialisation in extractive activities does not, by itself, lead to stronger mining innovation. By contrast, specialisation in mining-related services is positively associated with the development of mining technologies and generates significant knowledge spillovers across neighbouring regions. These findings suggest that innovation in mining depends less on the geographical concentration of extraction and more on specialised suppliers, technical services, skills, and knowledge networks.