Ninth Edition of Raw material week Showed special interest in international cooperation with partner countries in which business sessions are ongoing. Investment opportunities In Canada, Greenland, Australia, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Norway, Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa.
Important meetings on the agenda
The Commission interacted with the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) and MSP Forum, with its co-chairs from the Republic of Korea and the United States, to discuss raw materials projects during the event. Highlights of the week include the 11th Annual High-Level Commodities Conference.
The event reinforces the EU’s commitment to ensuring sustainable access to key raw materials, a cornerstone of Europe’s green and digital transition.
This year’s gathering of experts and stakeholders underscores the importance of strategic initiatives aimed at strengthening supply chains for key sectors including clean energy, mobility, defense and aerospace.
A strategy to ensure continuous or emergency supply stock is essential as well. Reduce the use of critical materials in advanced technologies. Key aspects of a multi-pronged strategy to reduce dependence on key raw materials include the development of alternatives. Rare materialPromoting and implementing a circular economy Recycling processesas well as improving device performance and resource utilization.
Raw material week
Raw Materials Week is the largest political event on raw materials and has been organized by the European Commission since 2016. More than 1,200 participants from industry, administration, civil society, research and academia gathered to discuss policies and initiatives in the raw materials sector. .
This edition is the first edition since the enactment of the Critical Raw Materials Act. Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), in May 2024. The Act provides a guarantee. Secure and sustainable supply of essential raw materials By strengthening national extraction, processing and recycling capabilities for European industry, and by diversifying our supply through strategic partnerships.
The Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) includes several measures to support raw material value chains:
- Establishes critical and strategic raw material inventory.
- Designates and supports strategic projects aimed at extracting, replacing, recycling or replacing strategic raw materials (SRM).
- Supports the creation of a platform to meet aggregate demand for SRM and to find offers from suppliers that match that aggregate demand.
- Establishes measures to coordinate financial support from Member States, European financial institutions and the private sector to mitigate the risks of strategic projects.
Importance of raw materials
The key raw material is of great economic importance to Europe, while the risk of supply disruptions is high. Today they face one. Growing global demandUnder the leadership of Decarbonization of economies.
There should be EU demand for rare earth metals. A six-fold increase by 2030 And seven times by 2050. For lithium, EU demand is expected to increase twelve-fold by 2030 and twenty-one-fold by 2050.
Today, Europe stands on a strong foundation.and on imports, Often by a third country, and recent crises have highlighted the EU’s strategic dependence. Without joint action, the EU’s efforts to achieve a single market, flexibility and well-functioning competition, its climate and digital goals are at risk.
Critical Raw Materials Act
The Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) sets ambitious goals to reduce import dependency and strengthen domestic manufacturing, processing and recycling capabilities. Specifically, it aims to produce 10% of key materials locally, 40% of processes, and 25% of recycling by 2030.
The European Union is making significant investments to achieve these goals. In research and innovation Supporting technological development and sustainability in various sectors.
Based on The power of the single marketThe EU will be able to rely on strong, flexible and sustainable value chains for key raw materials. This regulation will strengthen all stages of the value chain of European key raw materials, diversify EU imports to reduce strategic dependence, improve the EU’s ability to mitigate and monitor impacts. Supply disruption risks Improving circulation and sustainability of critical raw materials.
A communication accompanying the regulation outlines how the EU intends to strengthen its global commitment to promote and diversify investment, production and trade with trusted partners. The EU will achieve these objectives through mutually beneficial partnerships with third countries, in order to promote its economic growth in a sustainable manner, while ensuring safe, flexible, accessible and sufficiently diversified value chains for the EU. can be created.
According to the Green Deal Business Plan, the Critical Raw Materials Act sits alongside the Commission’s Net Zero Industry Act, which aims to increase production of key zero-emission technologies for clean energy supply chains. Currently, the EU supports a number of research projects and initiatives focused on the development of new materials that can transform the use of rare earth metals, recycling of critical materials, sustainable mining and supply chain resilience.
European Academy of Raw Materials
Raw material week 2024 also started.European Academy of Raw MaterialsSupported with €10 million from the Single Market Program and Horizon Europe. Academy will develop. Training material To bridge the skill gap along the value chain. It will support the development and retraining of the workforce needed in the EU for, among other things, the exploration, extraction, processing and recycling of raw materials through education and training institutions in EU Member States.
With an expected number of 1200 participants, experts from raw materials and strategic sectors such as batteries, digital technologies, defense and space will discuss how to develop national capabilities along the value chain, financial and risk projects, research and encourage innovation and improve circulation. of essential raw materials.
The European Raw Materials Academy is the second European Academy established under the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA). European Solar AcademyLaunched in June 2024. Programs are implemented through local partners. These could be suppliers. Vocational and educational trainingCompanies or educational institutions or other types of trainers with whom the Academy collaborates to implement its programs. The project will be implemented by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). ‘EIT is a European innovation tool dedicated to connecting education and skills with research and business.
