US and EU Support for Critical Minerals
As momentum increases toward achieving net zero, one aspect of the commitment to fight climate change and reduce carbon emissions that has attracted attention is the extent of the dependence on critical minerals in the energy transition.
In the United States, the Inflation Reduction Act (“IRA”) was signed into law by President Biden in August 2022. The IRA includes extensive provisions relating to green energy tax incentives, which are designed to, among other things, promote the investment in and development of clean energy as well as to strengthen the US Supply Chain for components of renewable energy projects, including critical minerals. In March 2023, the European Commission proposed the Critical Raw Materials Act (“CRMA”) which is expected to come into force in the first half of 2024 and which will strengthen all stages of the European critical raw materials value chain, reduce EU’s strategic dependencies on imports, improve EU capacity to monitor and mitigate risks of disruptions to the supply of critical raw materials, and improve circularity and sustainability.
