Hello and welcome. I'm Isabella Franco from Counterbalance and you are listened to

EU Watchdog Radio. In today's episode, I'm talking to my colleague Laura Verhek,

poly-selstered counterbalance about the global gateway and the EU growing push for critical raw

materials in the global south.

Raw materials are natural resources extracted from the earth and use it to make a wide range of products, from electronics to cars. The European Union classifies 34 of these as critical raw

materials, or CRM, because they are used in technologies linked to the

green and digital transition and also in the defense sector. So, for example, Cooper and

aluminum are found in batteries, white turbines and solar panels, while graphite is used in the defense sector, including in ammunition,

barrel tanks and fighter aircrafts.

But the extraction of raw materials is not a clean business.

We are talking about vast areas of land being sacrificed, no longer able to be used for living, growing food or raising cattle.

So people get displaced when mines are open. Running a mine requires a lot of energy and this means

either using fossil fuels or dams to run a mine. And last, but not least, to extract a specific material from the land, you need chemicals,

which will separate the material you want from the soil.

And mines do create a lot of toxic waste.

And let's be honest, mining companies do not always clean the water of extraction.

In today's episode, we will unpack how Europe is securing access to raw materials

for its green and digital transition, growing geopolitical influence and defense ambitions,

often at the expense of the global self.

What's been from it as sustainability and win-win partnerships may in practice

look a lot more like green neocolonialisms and even deeper inequalities inside and between countries.

Let's get into it.

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