Following the success of the Raw Materials Week 2018, the 4th edition of the EU "Raw Materials Week" will take place from Monday 18 to Friday 22 November 2019, in Brussels.

It builds up on a series of events organised by the European Commission addressing the latest news on raw materials in the EU.

The preliminary programme is now available on our dedicated website.

Online registrations will open in September.

In the coming decades, the industrial policy challenges relate to a large extent with the transition to a climate neutral and circular economy. This is well recognised also in the Commission Strategic Vision for 2050 - "A Clean Planet for All", presented in November 2018.

In February 2019, the Commission High-Level Expert Group on Energy-Intensive Industries (HLG on EII) agreed to produce an Industrial Transformation Master Plan in order to deepen analytical base and operationalise possible pathways for transition of Energy Intensive Industries to carbon neutrality by 2050.

The objective of this work is important because it comes from a collective industry wish to address sustainability and future competitiveness of EU industry in a global context. This can only be achieved through collaboration between industry, Member States, researchers and civil society, which are well represented in the HLG on EII.

The sub-groups established for this purpose have met in March and June to develop their respective chapters based on draft papers produced by the industry. The Sherpa group of the HLG on EII will finalise the draft Master Plan in September and the HLG on EII will convene in October to discuss and approve the Plan. Thank you to EIP Raw Materials for collecting stakeholders’ views contributing to this work.

The EU is funding a study to identify the ‘Areas of particular environmental interest in the Atlantic’. The main objective of this study is to support the International Seabed Authority (ISA) to set the Atlantic Regional Environmental Management Plan for the Atlantic area beyond national jurisdiction.

The ISA has just announced the first workshop to take forward the Atlantic REMP process. Interested stakeholders can consult more information, including details for applications to participate and selection criteria.

The terms of reference for the workshop are also available.

The report builds on 6 examples of recovery of critical, precious and other materials from extractive waste and landfills, highlighting technological innovation and the contributions to a more comprehensive knowledge-base on raw materials. In addition, the report provides estimates of potential recovery of some materials, with respect to their current demand.

In fact, several European countries are starting (or restarting) mining operations to supply Critical Raw Materials such as cobalt, niobium, rare earths, tantalum and vanadium in waste produced from mining activities, as well as from landfills across the EU. Extracting these materials from these waste streams has the potential to enhance the sustainability of mining activities in the EU, as well as contributing to a more circular economy.

The JRC report shows that the recovery of raw materials from waste is not yet a common practice in the EU, and is not always economically viable. Data, information and consolidated knowledge on these secondary materials as well as a harmonised legislative framework within the EU appear to be crucial for the large-scale deployment of recovery practices.

There are however some notable examples which not only demonstrate the potential but also the availability of technologies and the existence of a highly innovative sector in this area.