Following the news that Albemarle has threatened to shut its Langelsheim production plant in Germany; 

Daniel Clarke, Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view:

“At a time where the EU has to focus on building a regional and circular battery supply chain which is not dependent on China, forcing out a big American producer like Albemarle makes little sense. After being asleep at the wheel for some time, the EU is well aware of the need to scale up a battery supply chain. However, increasing regulations and adding more costs makes it unnecessarily harder for companies to do business. This will make the EU’s goal more difficult to achieve.”

Dr Lil Read, Senior Analyst at GlobalData, offers her view:

“As lithium is an essential raw material that is required for electric vehicle batteries, its extraction and processing is important for preventing climate change. However, regulation surrounding raw materials extraction and processing must carefully balance current health and safety requirements with longer-term climate change related goals.”