Joint Declaration of Intent between Canada and Germany on Critical Minerals Cooperation

August 26, 2025                                                     Berlin, Germany                                         Natural Resources Canada

The Department of Natural Resources (NRCan) of Canada and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) of Germany acknowledge the strategic significance of essential minerals to the financial and nationwide safety of our international locations, together with protection purposes, the power transition, clear know-how manufacturing, and superior manufacturing. We concur on the rising want for safe, diversified, and resilient essential mineral provide chains that cut back reliance on any single supply and strengthen financial safety.

We acknowledge the importance of essential minerals midstream applied sciences, together with smelting, processing, refining, and recycling capability to make sure safe and sustainable provide, and we share mutual curiosity in fostering innovation, rules-based commerce, funding, and collaboration within the essential minerals area. Building on current commitments beneath the Canada-Germany Energy Partnership, the Canada-Germany Hydrogen Alliance, the EU-Canada Strategic Partnership on Raw Materials, and the G7 Critical Minerals Action Plan goals to strengthen sustainable provide chains, we’ve got established the next widespread goals.

Objectives

• Promote and strengthen cooperation and commerce within the essential minerals worth chain, with a concentrate on midstream applied sciences, together with mineral processing, refining, and recycling;
• Focus coordinated efforts round Lithium, Rare Earth Elements, Copper, Tungsten, Gallium, Germanium, and Nickel;
• Strive to facilitate public investments by governments to advance tasks of mutual curiosity, along with selling non-public capital funding in precedence tasks;
• Coordinate assist and de-risking of strategic tasks by energetic participation in joint International Initiatives on Critical Minerals; and
• Encourage business partnerships and analysis collaborations between Canadian and German firms, monetary establishments, analysis organizations, and Indigenous companions.

Areas of Cooperation

• Project Financing, Investment and Trade – Explore choices to make use of all out there instruments to co-invest in commercially viable tasks by blended financing mechanisms drawing on each Canadian and German public funding instruments, together with the German Raw Materials Fund managed by KfW, Canada’s Clean Growth and Strategic Innovation Funds, and our respective export finance devices;
• Technology Development & Deployment – Encourage joint analysis, improvement, and demonstration tasks in strategic areas, together with superior midstream processing, refining, and recycling applied sciences, with a concentrate on low-carbon and round financial system approaches;
• Supply Chain Integration – Coordinated efforts to hyperlink upstream producers with midstream processors and downstream producers in each international locations;
• Exchange on Risk Mitigation & Resilience – Joint evaluation and mitigation of provide chain vulnerabilities, together with diversification of sources and routes, aligned with International Initiatives on Critical Minerals;
• Policy & Regulatory Alignment – Share greatest practices and alternate on requirements on ESG, traceability, and allowing processes considering related laws such because the EU Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) to facilitate commerce and funding, and recognizing our shared and continued dedication to accountable mining, discount of greenhouse gasoline emissions, engagement with native communities, and respect of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Governance, Implementation and Funding

NRCan and BMWE are the lead entities.

• The lead entities will coordinate and intensify current alternate codecs between stakeholders already energetic within the discipline of Critical Minerals and set up a Task Force on Critical Minerals Cooperation to observe up on progress of implementation within the areas of cooperation of this Joint Declaration of Intent (JDI).
• They could invite representatives from trade, Indigenous communities, academia, and different stakeholders to take part in particular initiatives.
• This JDI will not be legally binding and doesn’t create any monetary dedication.
• Funding for actions will likely be topic to the supply of appropriated funds and respective home legal guidelines and laws.

Canada’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources and Germany’s Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy will lead the work outlined on this JDI, and coordinate insurance policies and investments to assist these shared priorities.