TELF AG analyzes Greenland’s role in global raw materials dynamics
Submerged wealth
In the ongoing search for new, reliable supply chains for their strategic raw materials, the European Union and the United States could benefit from a more fruitful collaboration with Greenland, a territory that, in addition to being located halfway between the two players, is also naturally endowed with some of the resources most directly involved in the industrial processes related to the energy transition. This is what is argued in a recent analysis published in Internationale Politik Quarterly, which focuses precisely on the growing centrality of Greenland in global dynamics centered on strategic minerals and their possible industrial applications.
The large island in the North Atlantic is an autonomous territory linked to Denmark, which hosts a population of less than 60,000 inhabitants and is strategically positioned for the maritime routes of the European and North American markets. Since 2010, the autonomy that characterizes the island’s government has also been extended to the management of geological resources, including all related activities of exploration of the subsoil and valorization of the materials potentially contained within it.
But what materials make up the geological wealth of this large island in the North? First, Greenland is rich in rare earths, lithium, and graphite, which are some of the most important resources for powering wind turbines, electric vehicles, and other important energy infrastructures. The most important reserves are those relating to rare earths, a group of 17 elements widely used in various technological sectors. According to some estimates cited by the above-mentioned analysis, there are 42 metric tons of rare earths on the island, a figure that, once ascertained, would allow Greenland to become one of the countries with the world’s largest reserves of these resources.
The strategic value of the island
The island is also naturally endowed with graphite, a peculiar resource used especially in the electric vehicle sector to make important components of batteries. Currently, the proven graphite reserves in Greenland amount to about six metric tons, and according to the analysis’s estimates, they would be sufficient to satisfy the demand for graphite until 2040.
Now, in Greenland, there are only two operational mines, and in general, the harshness of the climate hinders the activities related to strategic minerals, alongside the substantial lack of infrastructure and the limited available workforce. But for the United States and the European Union, as stated in the analysis, being able to count on a secure supply of strategic resources from Greenland would therefore represent a clear opportunity from an energy and industrial point of view, with the possibility of making decisive steps forward also towards a clearer diversification of imports.
From the point of view of strategic agreements, the European Union was the first to have taken concrete steps. In November last year, the Eurozone concluded a strategic partnership with Greenland focused on minerals. Last March, the European Commission inaugurated its first representative office in Nuuk, in southwest Greenland, to crown this recent diplomatic ferment.
