Mining and refining companies, including Glencore and Umicore, have said new EU rules aimed at limiting exposure to cobalt could “decimate” the industry in the region, derailing efforts to reduce dependence on supplies from China.
In a letter to the European Commission, executives said a proposal to set a maximum limit of cobalt that can be inhaled at lower levels than in China or the US was already deterring investment. This was undermining attempts to build a local supply chain for a metal that is crucial to industries from electric vehicles to defence, they added.
“The damage is already being felt,” 12 executives and industry bodies wrote to commission president Ursula von der Leyen ahead of a vote of EU member states on the cobalt exposure standards on Wednesday. Companies “are diverting investment away from the EU” as a result of the plans, they said.
The proposals would “only result in greater dependence on the US and China for materials that are strategic to defence and vital to the green, circular and digital transitions”, they said in the letter seen by the Financial Times.
Their intervention comes as the EU’s industry commissioner, Stéphane Séjourné, is due to deliver a speech on Wednesday on plans to build up supplies of critical minerals, including cobalt, lithium and rare earths, as the bloc tries to catch up in the global race for the materials.
The US has moved swiftly this year to secure the supply of critical minerals, including making a $400mn direct investment in rare earths producer MP Materials, and concluding deals with countries such as Japan. China’s imposition of export controls on some rare earth elements in April, partly in response to US tariffs, increased the sense of urgency in Washington.
But in Europe, proposed new safety rules risk undermining targets set out in its Critical Raw Materials Act, which seeks to ensure access to a “secure and sustainable supply” of the materials, the industry leaders said in the letter. If adopted, the commission’s proposals “would decimate Europe’s cobalt value chain”, they said.
The commission estimates demand for cobalt will rise fivefold by 2030. The industry said the proposed new rules — proposed in July but must be signed off by member states and the European parliament before becoming law — would instead lead to the loss of one in six cobalt sites and jobs.
The commission argues that a 0.01 mg/m³ limit for cobalt particles that can be breathed in through the nose and mouth will help reduce lung, kidney and liver diseases, while the industry favours 0.02 mg/m³.
The industry said the limit was too restrictive and risked jobs being shifted to jurisdictions such as China or the US, which have much higher limits. The cap in China is 0.05mg/m³, while in the UK it is 0.1 mg/m³.
The commission confirmed it had received the letter and said it would respond in due course.
