Published on 11 July 2024 in Client Alerts
Despite these ambitious goals, the EU faces challenges due to its currently limited lithium supply. Europe accounts for just 0.1% of global lithium production, while the majority of refining occurs in China. Projects like Savannah Resources’ lithium mine in Portugal and Green Lithium’s refinery in the UK are steps towards increasing domestic supply and reducing dependency on external sources.
On 4 June 2024, the Financial Times published an article on this topic, entitled ‘Europe promises sustainable lithium, but production is years away’. Robert G Volterra, partner at Volterra Fietta, was interviewed by the Financial Times about international law related to lithium and rare earth mineral production. He was quoted, in the article, emphasising the importance of transparency and adherence to human rights in the critical minerals supply chain. He highlighted that while China has introduced voluntary due diligence guidelines to improve supply chain transparency, ensuring human rights should remain the responsibility of states rather than being outsourced to businesses. He stressed that critical international law obligations, such as human rights protections, must not be privatised, with states acting as the ultimate protectors and guarantors. This perspective underscores the necessity for robust regulatory frameworks to support the ethical sourcing and processing of critical minerals.
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