The report “Securing Europe’s Clean Tech Future” shows that voluntary stockpiling can help absorb shocks in the raw materials chain.
Critical raw materials such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, and rare-earth metals are indispensable to the Dutch and European cleantech industries. Our dependence on countries outside Europe for imports of these materials is increasing. Invest-NL asked The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS) to investigate how voluntary, public-private stocks of critical raw materials can contribute to a resilient European industry.
The HCSS report ‘Securing Europe’s Clean Tech Future’ shows that voluntary stockpiling, supported by public capital, can help absorb shocks in the raw materials chain and offer companies greater price stability. Based on interviews with thirteen Dutch cleantech companies and seven logistics and recycling parties, the report presents a practical four-step model for planning, purchasing, managing, and deploying stocks.
What companies need
SMEs in the cleantech and circular sectors are particularly at risk. They are often too small to build up raw material stocks independently and have difficulty accessing financing. Raw material markets are capital-intensive and volatile, while banks and investors are cautious because of the risks. This leaves the market vulnerable to sudden disruptions or price increases.
Invest-NL sees a structural financing gap here, precisely the type of market failure that the national financing and development institution wants to address. Sustainable innovation and circular production require certainty in the chain, but the market does not provide this automatically. This research explores how public co-financing, guarantees, or revolving funds can enable voluntary strategic stockpiling without companies losing their agility.
What companies need
SMEs in the cleantech and circular sectors are particularly at risk. They are often too small to build up raw material stocks independently and have difficulty accessing financing. Raw material markets are capital-intensive and volatile, while banks and investors are cautious because of the risks. This leaves the market vulnerable to sudden disruptions or price increases.
Invest-NL sees a structural financing gap here, precisely the type of market failure that the national financing and development institution wants to address. Sustainable innovation and circular production require certainty in the chain, but the market does not provide this automatically. This research explores how public co-financing, guarantees, or revolving funds can enable voluntary strategic stockpiling without companies losing their agility.
Insights from practice
The HCSS report ‘Securing Europe’s Clean Tech Future’ shows that voluntary stockpiling, supported by public capital, can help absorb shocks in the raw materials chain and offer companies greater price stability. Based on interviews with thirteen Dutch cleantech companies and seven logistics and recycling parties, the report presents a practical four-step model for planning, purchasing, managing, and deploying stocks.
Key insights:
- Voluntary stockpiling is still rare in the Netherlands, but is considered strategically valuable.
- SMEs benefit most from joint public-private inventories.
- Thanks to its strong logistics infrastructure, the Netherlands is a logical location for a Northwest European hub.
- Linking with circular initiatives—such as recycling and reuse of critical materials—reduces dependence on primary imports.
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