The European Union added lithium to its list of critical materials as it unveiled an action plan Sept. 3 to boost supply for a green recovery, which will include launching a raw materials alliance.

The region is working to boost domestic lithium capacities under the EU Battery Alliance, with four key projects totaling nearly €2 billion underway. The projects aim to cover 80% of Europe's lithium demand in the battery sector by 2025, according to Maroš Šefčovič, vice president for inter-institutional relations and foresight with the European Commission.

Raw materials will play a big part in the future, especially amid a transition toward a green and digital economy, which is at the center of the region's recovery from the coronavirus crisis, according to Šefčovič.

"If we want to keep benefiting in the long run from modern products — from consumer electronics such as smartphones, TV or computer screens, to our electric cars and clean energy equipment — it is quite clear that we have to drastically change our approach to critical raw materials," Šefčovič said in a statement.

Šefčovič also highlighted Europe's growing demand for raw materials, saying the region will need almost 60 times more lithium and 15 times more cobalt for electric cars and energy storage alone by 2050 and demand for rare earths could increase by tenfold over the same period.

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