Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2666 actions· ✨ 90 recent

On 15 January 2026, Canada Growth Fund Inc. (CGF), a CAD 15bn federal Crown investment vehicle, announced it will lead an up to US$85 million structured financing for Mangrove Water Technologies Ltd. (Mangrove Lithium), a British Columbia-based lithium refiner. CGF's own commitment is up to US$65 million, alongside continued participation from existing investors Breakthrough Energy Ventures and BMW i Ventures; the CGF tranche closed concurrently with a separate CAD 9 million loan from National Bank of Canada backed by the federal Clean Technology Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit. Proceeds commission Mangrove's 1,000-tonne-per-annum Single Stack Plant in Delta, BC and advance development of a planned 20,000-tonne-per-year full-scale plant, with the government citing the deal as reducing reliance on overseas lithium processing and building an onshore mining-to-refining supply chain.

On 19 December 2025 Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) announced EUR 170 million in direct federal grants to seven transformation projects in former coal regions under the STARK programme (Stärkung der Transformationsdynamik und Aufbruch in den Revieren und an den Kohlekraftwerksstandorten), targeting an expected EUR 600 million in total triggered investment and roughly 600 direct jobs plus up to 3,000 indirect supply-chain jobs. The largest disclosed awards anchor the domestic battery-materials value chain: EUR 63.4 million to Aachen startup Cylib for Europe's first industrial-scale LFP battery-recycling line at Chempark Dormagen (60,000 t/year capacity), EUR 36 million to AMG-Lithium GmbH for a battery-grade lithium-salt production expansion (~20,000 t/year) at Chemiepark Bitterfeld-Wolfen, and EUR 46.1 million to Altech Batteries GmbH for a sodium-based (CERENERGY) stationary storage factory at the Lusatian industrial park Schwarze Pumpe. A fourth confirmed recipient, ORE Energy, received EUR 16.2 million for an iron-air storage project ("IronAir4Ruhr") in Gelsenkirchen; the remaining three of the seven funded projects are not yet individually named in public BMWE materials.

On 3 December 2025, Export Finance Australia (EFA) disclosed a €120 million (~AU$196 million) loan commitment to Vulcan Energy Resources' Phase One Lionheart Project in Germany's Upper Rhine Valley, which will produce battery-quality lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LHM) from geothermal brine while co-generating renewable heat and power. The loan is part of a syndicated, multi-country export-credit package alongside Germany's KfW Raw Materials Fund, the European Investment Bank, Export Development Canada, Denmark's EIFO, France's Bpifrance Assurance Export, and Italy's SACE, financing a project with total capital cost of ~€2.193 billion (~AU$3.9 billion). Phase One targets 24,000 tonnes per annum of LHM, enough for roughly 500,000 electric vehicles.

Natural Resources Canada's Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Tim Hodgson, announced on 31 October 2025 conditional approval of up to CAD 14,062,500 (USD ~10.0M) in non-repayable federal funding for Focus Graphite Inc. under NRCan's Global Partnerships Initiative, part of the G7 Critical Minerals Action Plan's first tranche of 26 investments and partnerships. Focus Graphite executed the funding agreement on 8 December 2025. The grant covers approximately 73.6% of eligible project costs for a commercial-scale electrothermal fluidized-bed purification demonstration plant converting Quebec natural flake graphite (from the Lac Knife and Lac Tétépisca deposits) into ultra-high-purity battery-anode and advanced materials, with Focus Graphite contributing the remaining CAD 4.79M cash plus CAD 250K in-kind. Eligible expenditures run 14 October 2025 to 31 March 2028.

The UK's state-owned National Wealth Fund (NWF) announced a commitment of up to £31 million as part of a £35 million equity funding round for Cornish Lithium, with the remaining £4 million from existing investor TechMet. The capital is earmarked to advance the Trelavour Lithium Project toward a construction decision and the Cross Lanes Geothermal Lithium Project toward commercial drilling, both in Cornwall, England. The round is NWF's second equity investment in Cornish Lithium following an initial commitment in August 2023, and is conditional on shareholder approval, UK Takeover Panel sign-off, and clearance under the National Security and Investment Act 2021.

Invest Ontario, the Government of Ontario's investment-attraction agency, signed a non-binding term sheet to provide up to CAD 17.5 million (~USD 12.7 million) in state loan support to Electra Battery Materials Corporation toward its ~CAD 100 million project to build what the company describes as North America's first cobalt sulfate refinery, at Temiskaming Shores, Ontario. The funding is explicitly conditional on the parties reaching a definitive agreement and is intended to reduce reliance on foreign-controlled (principally Chinese) cobalt-refining capacity for EV and energy-storage battery supply chains.

France's Ministry of Industry and Energy, under Minister Marc Ferracci, announced a EUR 200 million green-industry tax credit (crédit d'impôt au titre des investissements dans l'industrie verte, C3IV) for Imerys' EMILI project at Échassières (Allier) — France's first domestic lithium mining and refining operation. The award was made as the project's total construction cost was revised up to EUR 1.8 billion. Once operational (targeted 2030), the site is expected to produce 34,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide per year, enough to supply around 700,000 electric vehicles and cover over 20% of French battery factories' lithium needs. The award was announced alongside a wider package of C3IV support: seven critical-metals projects received a combined ~EUR 809 million in tax credits, part of ~EUR 5.4 billion in supported critical raw materials investment nationally.

Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (K-SURE), a Korean government export-credit agency, announced on 4 August 2025 a US$1bn (~KRW 1.4tn) financial guarantee backing LG Chem's construction of a cathode material plant in Clarksville, Montgomery County, Tennessee. The facility is being built in a first phase for roughly KRW 2tn, with 60,000 tons/year of NCMA (nickel-cobalt-manganese- aluminum) cathode capacity — described by K-SURE as the largest cathode material production line in the United States, sufficient for around 600,000 electric vehicles. K-SURE stated this is the first US investment guarantee issued following the Korea-US tariff negotiation, under which Seoul agreed to channel a large bilateral investment package into the United States; the guarantee lets LG Chem access lower-cost, longer-tenor financing from global banks for the project.

Business Finland granted €115.4 million in investment aid under Finland's EU-TCTF-aligned clean transition aid scheme to Easpring Finland New Materials Oy for the construction of a cathode active material (CAM) factory in Kotka. The €800 million total project is a joint venture majority-owned (70%) by China's Beijing Easpring Material Technology Co. Ltd. (300073.SZ), with Finnish Minerals Group (30%) as the Finnish state minority partner. At full capacity of 60,000 tonnes/year the plant will supply CAM for approximately 750,000 EV battery packs annually; first product samples are targeted for summer 2026 with commercial production in 2027.

Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) signed a loan agreement on 2025-06-26 for up to USD 240 million with UBE C1 Chemicals America, Inc. (UCCA), a US subsidiary of UBE Corporation. Co-financed alongside MUFG Bank, Mizuho Bank, and The Norinchukin Bank, the total co-financing package reaches USD 400 million. Proceeds fund a new UCCA manufacturing facility for dimethyl carbonate (DMC) and ethyl methyl carbonate (EMC) — organic solvents used in automotive lithium-ion batteries — which JBIC and Louisiana economic-development officials describe as the first domestic US production source for these chemicals, which are currently entirely imported.