The European Commission has made it very clear in the declaration of the European Green Deal that "access to resources is a matter of strategic security to implement the Green Deal" and that it is essential "to ensure the supply of sustainable raw materials, in particular those necessary for renewable, digital, space and defense technology»16. In this context, it presented in March 2023 a proposal for a "Critical Raw Materials Regulation", ostensibly aimed at ensuring a safe and sustainable supply of such raw materials.

However, as explained in a report by the Research Center India Email List Multinational Enterprises ( somo , for its acronym in dutch), the strategy proposed by the eu will not lead to a sustainable supply of critical minerals for Europe, as it will exacerbate the risks for human rights and the environment, will undermine economic dynamics in partner countries and will continue to reinforce unsustainable consumption in rich countries.




Beyond these lines of continuity, there are also novelties. An important characteristic of the "Decarbonization Consensus" is linked to the complexity of neocolonial relations in a multipolar world, marked by inter-imperial struggle, where geopolitics is transformed into geoeconomics and multiple colonialisms. It is not just the EU , lacking in critical minerals, that is seeking direct access to them. China, despite having these minerals, is very well positioned in the global South, where for almost two decades it has been making very aggressive investments in strategic extractive sectors, maintaining a different type of relationship from those established by the US and Europe.