February 13, 2026: European efforts to diversify supplies of metals and minerals critical to battery manufacturing and other sectors have yet to show tangible results, according to a damning new report.

The European Court of Auditors (ECA) said on February 2 lengthy and complex permitting is still a significant bottleneck, delaying the start of EU mining projects.

Meanwhile, most EU recycling targets “neither incentivise the recycling of individual materials nor encourage the uptake of recycled materials”, according to the report — ‘Critical raw materials for the energy transition, not a rock-solid policy’.

There are also blind spots in the trade data used for EU critical and strategic materials lists, as well as issues with methodology and demand projections for the strategic materials.

On EU financial support for initiatives related to critical raw materials, the ECA said funding is scattered across different programmes, instruments, and is further complicated by involving different decision-making directorates.

The European Commission does not track the results of this funding and has not assessed its effects on the EU’s supply, the ECA said.

“We found that other efforts to diversify imports, such as strategic partnerships and roadmaps with non-EU countries, improve cooperation but contribute little to the secure supply of critical raw materials.”

Meanwhile, critical raw materials continue to be mainly processed outside the EU. Within the EU, processing is affected by a lack of technology and a shrinking number of facilities.

Analysis published in May 2023 said the EU needed to invest more than €13 billion ($14 billion) by 2040 to guarantee just a quarter of key battery materials from European sources to power its green energy agenda.

The study by European electrochemical and thermal energy storage research center, CIC energiGUNE, assessed the impact of the Critical Raw Materials Act published by the European Commission earlier that year.

Last November, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen admitted Europe’s economy was being squeezed by China and the US amid their tit-for-tat battle over battery material supplies and trade tariffs.

She said China’s “dramatically tightened export controls” over rare earths and battery materials were part of wider economic friction with the US, which was having a big impact on Europe.