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Industrialists call for a European preference for lithium in electric batteries

by AI | 21.Jan 2026 | Europe in brief AI

About ten business leaders from the mining and industrial sector, such as Eramet, Imerys or Orano, have called on the European Commission to require manufacturers of electric batteries to incorporate a minimum share of locally sourced lithium, in a letter seen by AFP on Wednesday.

An employee walks in the open-pit mine of Imerys' lithium plant, a French multinational specializing in industrial minerals, in Échassierres, in central France, on January 17, 2024. (Photo: OLIVIER CHASSIGNOLE/AFP)

Paris – These eleven European companies have asked the Commission for a “clear requirement for a minimum local content” that would promote “the development of a competitive European industry for lithium and battery minerals”.

This letter dated January 19 is addressed, in addition to the President of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen, to Commissioners Stéphane Séjourné (Prosperity and Industrial Strategy), Teresa Ribera (Competition), Maros Sefcovic (Trade), Wopke Hoekstra (Climate), and Apostolos Tzitzikostas (Transport).

The heads of Eramet, Imerys, Vulcan Energy Resources, Finnish Minerals Group, Electricité de Strasbourg, Orano, Savannah Resources, Sibanye-Stillwater, Lithium de France, Viridian Lithium and Rock Tech Lithium are asking that “at least 20%” of the lithium used in batteries be “extracted, processed or recycled within the European Union” by 2031.

A proportion they would like to see raised to 40% by 2036. Targets deemed “ambitious, but achievable”, and which “take into account the EU’s supply and demand projections”. (January 21, 2026)