On 16 March 2023, the European Commission published the European Critical Raw Materials Act (ECRMA), which proposes a set of actions to ensure the access to a secure, affordable and sustainable supply of critical raw materials (CRM). CRM are economically and strategically important for the European economy and crucial for its transitioning process towards sustainability and circularity. As global demand for CRM is expected to increase drastically, Europe still relies on imports from third country suppliers. Considering such strategic dependencies on third countries, supply shortages as a result of the Covid-19 crisis and the energy shortage following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Europe has to find new and resilient ways to secure its supply and meet its climate objectives. Therefore, the ECRMA shall improve the EU's capacity to monitor and mitigate risks of disruptions and enhance circularity and sustainability.
To provide a more detailed understanding of the ECRMA, Circular Innovation Lab, together with the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP), hosted a webinar titled: “European Critical Raw Materials Regulation: Opportunities and Challenges for Stakeholders” on 11 April 2023. It was moderated by Eline Blot, policy analyst at the IEEP, and began with a keynote presentation by George Mörsdorf, policy officer at DG Grow, European Commission, in which he outlined the ECRMA and highlighted the role of circularity within the scope of the new regulation. The keynote was followed by a panel discussion with four experts within the field of CRM and circularity:
Aman Chitkara: leader of Li-Cycle, a leading lithium-ion battery recycler
Apoorva Arya: founder and CEO of Circular Innovation Lab
Patrick Schröder: Senior Research Fellow at Chatham House
Antoine Oger: Head of Global Challenges and SDGs at IEEP
Read the Outcome Report of the webinar to learn more about the key insights and takeaways: