Mitarbeiter sonstige

Achieving strategic autonomy: critical raw materials and low-emission hydrogen

Altenburg, Tilman
Mitarbeiter sonstige (2024)

in: Christine Hackenesch / Niels Keijzer / Svea Koch (eds.), The European Union’s global role in a changing world: challenges and opportunities for the new leadership, Bonn: German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), 57-60

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23661/idp11.2024.13
Open access

The agreed shift towards a net zero industry in Europe and elsewhere increases demand for critical raw materials (CRMs) and low-emission hydrogen. CRMs are inputs to many of the essential industrial goods required for a net zero transition, especially lithium-ion batteries, wind turbines, generators and engines, electrolysers and photovoltaics (Prognos et al., 2023). Also, digital hardware, defence and aerospace increasingly consume critical raw materials. Low-emission hydrogen and its derivatives (including green ammonia, methanol and others) are indispensable for decarbonising the so-called hard-to-abate industries, including steel, chemicals, cement, aviation and heavy-duty road traffic. During the coming years and decades, both hydrogen and critical raw materials will be essential inputs for a variety of sectors with strategic importance for the European economy.