Study on critical raw materials for German companies

What makes a raw material “critical” and which raw materials are critical for German companies? A report compiled by the KfW banking group in cooperation with adelphi and the Institute for Futures Studies and Technology Assessment (IZT) addresses this and other questions. The report focuses in particular on the relevance of critical raw materials for emerging technologies.

Critical raw materials have been a political issue for some time. Safeguarding the supply of rare earth elements recently sparked intense political debate in the US and the EU. The topic is also prominent on the political agenda in Germany, demonstrated not least by the first raw material partnership agreement with Mongolia, signed this month by German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.

The report, compiled by the KfW banking group in cooperation with adelphi and the Institute for Futures Studies and Technology Assessment (IZT), includes a criticality analysis. This analysis is based on supply risks, such as the high concentration of the production of a raw material in a particular country, and vulnerability factors, such as the lack of substitutes for particular raw materials. Furthermore, the report takes a closer look at several raw materials and governance factors. A typology determining the impact of governance on the criticality of raw materials forms the basis of this analysis.

The study is available for download (in German) here:
http://www.kfw.de/kfw/de…

Further information is available on the following websites:
www.adelphi.de/de/servic…
www.izt.de/en/research-p…