Global Europe is putting sustainability at the centre of international discussions on raw materials

Outside the EU's borders, however, bigger uncertainty exists as to how sustainably resource extraction is organised. Therefore, the EU is putting sustainability at the centre of international discussions on raw materials such as in the EU-US-Japan Trilateral, the OECD, the UN, the WTO and the G20. The EU is also imposing due diligence requirements on importers of certain raw materials through the EU Regulation on Conflict Minerals, which enters into force on 1 January 2021, and its forthcoming proposal for a Batteries Regulation will address the responsible sourcing of battery raw materials.

How can the EU ensure that the increased extraction of raw materials causes no environmental harm and contributes to social development?

Balancing access to resources and sustainability is the key issue for the EU's future resource security. Within the EU, a strong regulatory framework exists with careful involvement of local stakeholders and high standards for environmental management. Innovative technologies, such as the use of earth observation, will allow companies and authorities to better monitor the environmental impacts of mining projects.

How will the EU increase circularity of raw materials?

Circularity and recycling of raw materials from low carbon technologies is an integral part of the transition to a climate-neutral economy. Increasing product life-time, and the use of secondary raw materials, through a robust and integrated EU market and retention of value of high-grade materials, will help to cover a growing share of the EU's raw materials demand.

The EU is at the forefront of the circular economy and has already increased its use of secondary raw materials. For example, more than 50% of some metals such as iron, zinc, or platinum are recycled and they cover more than 25% of the EU consumption. For others, however, especially those needed in renewable energy technologies or high tech applications such as rare earths, gallium, or indium, secondary production represents only a marginal contribution. This is a huge loss of potential value to the EU economy and a source of avoidable strain on the environment and climate.

Therefore, the Action Plan proposes to launch additional research on waste processing, advanced materials and substitution of critical raw materials. It also announces that the Commission will map the potential supply of secondary critical raw materials from EU stocks and wastes by 2022 – a precondition for future policy development and concrete recovery and recycling projects.

How can the EU increase the sourcing within the EU?

Europe has a long tradition of mining and extractive activities, with aggregates and industrial minerals as well as certain base metals such as copper and zinc. It is less successful in developing projects to develop critical raw materials, even though there is significant potential for these. The reasons are multi-faceted: lack of investment in exploration and mining, diverse and lengthy national permitting procedures or tranditionally lower levels of public acceptance.

The EU and its Member States already have a good legislative framework in place to ensure that mining takes place under environmentally and socially sound conditions.

For the reasons mentioned above, it is very difficult to bring new critical raw material projects to the operational stage quickly. However, solutions exists. Innovative technological solutions are transforming the mining and processing of critical raw materials. The sector is already using automation and digitalisation. Remote sensing using Europe's earth-observation Copernicus Programme can become a powerful tool to identify new critical raw material sites, monitor the environmental performance of mines during their operating life and after closure.

What is the objective of the European Raw Materials Alliance?

The EU Industrial Strategy proposes to develop new industrial alliances. The raw materials dimension should be an integral part of each of these alliances. For example, the European Battery Alliance has put a strong emphasis on securing access to lithium. The investment it has mobilised should lead to supplying 80% of Europe's lithium batteries demand from European sources by 2025.

On the top of this, there is also a need for a dedicated industrial alliance on raw materials, as announced in the Industrial Strategy, since there are a number of important cross-cutting challenges such as highly concentrated global markets, investment and innovation barriers, and increased level of sustainable sourcing, that cannot be addressed only per sector.

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