Dr. Peter Tzeferis

Abstract:

Global competition for resources will become fierce in the coming decade. Dependence on mineral raw materials may soon replace today's dependence on oil.  The EU's ambition to become the first climate-neutral economy by 2050, and its ability to sustain the green and digital transition and achieve strategic autonomy, all rely heavily on reliable, secure, and resilient access to raw materials. The European Commission defined strategic and critical raw materials based on objective criteria including their economic importance and their supply risk (CRMs). In an important move to secure the supply of essential raw materials, the European Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) entered into force on 23 May 2024, introducing the concept of strategic raw materials (SRMs), which are key for some strategic technologies and vulnerable to shortages and setting specific ambitious benchmarks for extraction, processing, recycling, and supply diversification through strategic partnerships with mineral rich countries for 2030. Greece is a EU country with a significant mineral resources in terms of quality, quantity and variety of ores, minerals and aggregates. Also, there is satisfactory legislation framework, funding opportunities and a political support to start and implement investments in the sector. Greece’s mineral potential is largely contained in State-owned areas and includes resources with CRMs. Our strategic goal is to unlock the existing mineral potential and reform the Greek mining industry. The national steps for raw materials sector according to MOEE΄s action plan 2024 and EU CRMA are described in detail.