European Commission has proposed a comprehensive set of actions to ensure the EU’s access to a secure, diversified, affordable and sustainable supply of critical raw materials. Critical raw materials are indispensable for a wide set of strategic sectors including the net zero industry, the digital industry, aerospace, and defence sectors.

This practical guide provides a series of questions that may guide governments when considering the design of strategic policies and roadmaps with respect to the minerals and metals they produce and/or need for resilient industrial supply chains.This publication is designed to support governments in defining what should be considered as “strategic” or “critical” based on a series of objective criteria, such as their mineral endowments, their national development objectives and priorities, their decarbonization and industrialization pathways, and their importance (and role) in global supply chains.