Feedstock sovereignty in Europe
The hosts:
Iris ten Have, Visionaries Tomorrow
What is this Ripple about?
Europe's feedstock dependency is being misinterpreted as a competitiveness issue. But cost competitiveness is only the symptom, not the disease. Europe is uncompetitive in chemicals, minerals, and carbon feedstocks because it's dependent. The "competitiveness crisis" framing generates the wrong remedies (subsidies, regulation). The "sovereignty crisis" framing generates the right ones (domestic processing, strategic offtakes).
Why this topic timely or urgent in 2026
Europe's key feedstocks (chemicals, minerals) used to arrive cheap and on time from the Middle East and China. Strait closures, export controls, and price volatility have ended that. This Ripple works through how to build cost-competitive local supply, which technologies get us there, and where to deploy now.
Key questions or challenges being explored
Which feedstocks can Europe realistically produce at cost parity, and which ones can't?
Where is the technology ready but the capital missing, and where is the capital ready but the technology not?
Who are the first buyers that make local supply bankable, and what does it take to lock them in?
The main tension or debate at the heart of this discussion
Cost-competitive local supply is the durable answer for Europe, but in many cases, the technologies and scale economics aren't all there yet. Every feedstock investment, policy decision, and offtake contract is an implicit bet on which side of that trade-off to accept.
Who would get the most value from attending this Ripple?
Startups, investors, and corporates in supply chains, chemicals, minerals.