Declaration of Intent to Cooperate EU and Norway come together for raw material extraction and battery value chain.

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The EU and Norway have signed a declaration of intent focused on a strategic partnership for the development of sustainable land-based raw materials and battery value chains. The Green Alliance EU-Norway, which was decided in 2023, is thus being deepened.

Norway has significant reserves of raw materials that are important for battery production, including lithium, nickel, cobalt, aluminum and graphite. These resources put Norway in a strategically advantageous position when it comes to the battery production supply chain. This makes cooperation with the Norwegian government highly interesting, and in April 2023, the EU and the Prime Minister of Norway decided to establish the Green Alliance EU-Norway.

This alliance includes various commitments, such as strengthening efforts to combat climate change, supporting the green industrial transformation, accelerating the energy transition, and decarbonizing the transport sector. This decarbonization requires a boom in e-mobility, which in turn requires the appropriate resources and a stable value chain for batteries.

A reaffirmation of cooperation between Norway and the EU regarding these two factors occurred on March 21, 2024, within the framework of the Green Alliance. Jan Christian Vestre, Minister of Trade and Industry of Norway, and Maroš Šefčovič, Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal, Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight of the European Commission, signed a corresponding declaration of intent.

Cooperation regarding resources and batteries

The strategic partnership for sustainable land-based raw materials and battery value chains involves close cooperation between the EU and Norway in five areas, the planning and elaboration of which is now being taken up in working groups with common stakeholders.

• Integration of value chains for raw materials and batteries by facilitating joint investment projects through joint ventures, consortia, special purpose vehicles, and other forms of collaboration between industrial actors, including the connection of end users with raw material suppliers.

• Collaboration in the area of Research and Innovation (R&I), as the results of joint projects will provide a good basis for potential adoption and implementation in industry. Norway has been very active in the EU's Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (Horizon 2020) and continues to do so under Horizon Europe.

• The application of high environmental, social, and governance standards and practices will be facilitated by mutual consultation and information exchange on relevant strategies and initiatives along entire value chains, including recycling and waste management.

• Mobilization of financial and investment instruments to support investment projects within the partnership, in particular through InvestEU, the European Raw Materials Alliance and the European Battery Alliance.

• Development of the skills needed for high-quality jobs in the raw materials and battery sector. This includes mobilizing stakeholders and financial support for the development and implementation of appropriate initiatives, and the adoption of existing initiatives such as the European Battery Academy.

This partnership promotes trade and investment in a secure, sustainable and resilient raw material value chain, which is crucial for the transition to a climate-neutral and digitized economy. They support the EU's Global Gateway strategy, a key initiative for investments in sustainable projects worldwide, by considering the needs of partner countries and ensuring long-term benefits for local communities. The EU plans to mobilize up to 300 billion EUR to achieve these goals. (sb)

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