**4. Geopolitical and social impact**

Nowadays, China dominates the manufacturing industry, also due to its abundance in raw materials and low cost-effective ways of producing them [17–21]. China refines nearly 90% of the world's rare earths, which mostly are part of critical raw material list. The raw materials are used in various products such as EVs, advanced ceramics, computers, smartphones, wind turbines, monitors, and fiber optics [21].

Many countries such as Europe, USA, and Canada import most of the critical raw materials from China. A critical material is defined as vital for the world's economy, whose supply may be at risk due to geological scarcity, geopolitical issues, trade policy, or other factors.

In the last years, we have faced coronavirus pandemic and COVID-19 quarantine rules and political tensions [16, 22–24], so it is important that each country develops its internal strategy and has less dependence on other countries. This can be done by increasing the attention in the entire raw material chain from exploration, mining, and mineral processing to substitution, recycling, and circular economy as reported in **Figure 6** [7, 25, 26]. This section will address European Union strategy to overcome the shortage problem. Their experts suggest that the key solution is to boost mineral recycling, identify alternative materials, and promote greater exploration and trade better with World Trade Organization (WTO) to ensure the supply of important raw materials to European industry is not interrupted [26].

#### **Figure 6.**

*Raw materials of EU project with the purpose of developing new materials into a major strength for Europe [7].*

*Understanding the Need of Raw Materials, and Eco-Friendly and Cost-Effective Methods... DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108922*
