MINEX Forum

Tag: Net Zero Industry Act

  • Council and Parliament strike provisional deal to reinforce the supply of critical raw materials

    Council and Parliament strike provisional deal to reinforce the supply of critical raw materials

    The political agreement reached today keeps the overall objectives of the original proposal but strengthens several elements. It includes aluminium in the list of strategic and critical materials, reinforces the benchmark of recycling, clarifies the permitting procedure for strategic projects, and requires relevant companies to perform a supply-chain risk assessment on their sourcing of strategic raw materials.

    Ensuring the supply of raw materials locally and globally

    The Commission’s proposed regulation establishes a list of 34 critical raw materials (including 16 strategic ones) and sets targets to increase the EU contribution of these substances (10% for the extraction; 40% for the processing and 15% for the recycling). To achieve this, the proposal called for a quick and simplified permit procedure for strategic extracting projects, to be dealt by a single national contact point. It also called for risk analysis of possible dependencies, member states’ exploration plans, higher investment in research, innovation and skills; and protection of the environment by promoting the circularity and sustainability of raw materials.

    On the global stage, the regulation identified measures to diversify imports of critical raw materials ensuring that not more than 65% of the Union’s consumption of each strategic raw material comes from a single third country.

    Main elements of the agreement

    The provisional agreement adds one critical raw material (aluminium) to the list of strategic raw materials (hence, 34 critical raw materials and 17 strategic raw materials). The compromise text also considers that in addition to the natural graphite (which already in the list) the synthetic graphite will also be a strategic raw material during a period of three years, until the Commission makes the first revision of the list.

    Furthermore, the agreement allows that projects able to produce innovative raw materials that substitute strategic raw materials in relevant technologies can be candidates to become strategic projects

    Member states will have the possibility to object on whether a project will be developed on their territories.

    Realistic benchmarks

    The provisional agreement keeps the benchmarks of 10% for extraction of raw materials and 40% for processing but increases the benchmark for recycling to at least 25% of EU’s annual consumption of raw materials. In addition, there should be substantial increase on the recovery of raw materials present in waste.

    Promoting technologies to moderate consumption

    The co-legislators propose that 18 months after the entry into force of the regulation, the Commission shall present a report on the estimated consumption of each critical raw material for the next three decades.

    Points of single contact

    According to the different administrative systems of each country, member states will be able to designate one or several single contact points, at the level they decide (local, regional or national) and the different stages of the value chain (mining, processing, recycling). Promoters of strategic projects will have a “relevant administrative unit” in these points of single contact who will facilitate the permit granting process for the project.

    Permitting procedure

    The provisional compromise also unifies the timings of the permit procedure. The total duration of the permit granting process should not exceed 27 months for extraction projects and 15 months for processing and recycling projects. While the first step of the environmental impact assessment (the production of the report, which must be conducted by the project promoter) will be not included in the time-line for the project approval, the public consultation needed for an environmental impact assessment will be part of the total duration of the permit process.

    Company risk preparedness

    Large companies exposed to shortages of strategic raw materials in strategic technologies (i.e. battery manufacturers, hydrogen producers, renewable energy generators, data transmission and storage, or aircraft production) will have to regularly carry out a risk assessment of their supply chain of strategic raw materials, which they may present to their board of directors, mapping where the materials come from, what can affect their supply and what are the vulnerabilities to supply disruptions.

    Background

    The Critical Raw Material Act, together with the Net Zero Industry Act and the Reform of the electricity market design is one of the flagship legislative initiatives of the Green Deal Industrial Plan that the Commission presented on 1st February 2023. The three were presented as a package on 16th March. The Council adopted the negotiation mandate on 30th of June.

  • EU already late for its 2030 raw materials targets, French experts warn

    EU already late for its 2030 raw materials targets, French experts warn

    To achieve its energy and climate goals, the European Union will need to electrify on a massive scale, which in turn, will require more raw materials for the manufacture of electricity-generating and storage equipment such as batteries, wind turbines and solar panels.

    To this end, the European Commission presented its proposal in mid-March for a Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), with a view to advancing the EU’s energy and ecological transition.

    Under it, EU countries must ensure that 10% of the extraction, 40% of the refining and 15% of the recycling of several dozen raw materials takes place on home turf by 2030.

    On top of that, the Commission proposes the EU should no longer be more than 65% dependent on a single non-EU country for a single raw material – a difficult task given to what extent the EU currently depends on imported minerals, notably from China, which accounts for up to 90% of the value chain for certain materials.

    Those targets have been at the centre of the debate ever since, with some lawmakers in the European Parliament opposed to their introduction and some EU countries like France and Germany prefering targets for individual minerals.

    “It would be absurd to set the same targets for cobalt, 80% of whose reserves are located in a single African country, as for lithium, for example, which can be mined in Europe,” explained French Industry Minister Roland Lescure.

    Unexplored subsoils

    The French mining industry also supports the idea of introducing sector-specific targets for individual raw materials, saying Europe “lacks sufficient production capacity and time to implement them” for certain metals listed in the CRMA, explained Christophe Poinssot, deputy director general of the French geological and mining research bureau.

    But beyond the difficulties of supplying certain minerals domestically, Poinssot also pointed to data gaps due to an unexplored geological potential in Europe.

    In France, “knowledge of subsoil resources is extremely patchy and covers only part of the country,” Poinssot said at a conference organised by the right-wing Les Républicains party in early July.

    “The inventory carried out 40 years ago was for a long time limited to the first 100 metres underground,” he explained.

    Resources in Europe’s subsoil could even be exported, the researcher also said.

    Norway, for example, recently discovered a phosphate deposit that could supply a considerable proportion of the EU’s needs. At the beginning of January, Sweden also announced the discovery a major deposit of rare earth oxides.

    Under these conditions, “we need to reinvest in learning more about our subsoil and reopening mines. To do this, we need to relaunch an inventory of the mineral resources present in all 27 EU member states,” Poinssot argues.

    Critical Raw Materials: EU countries push for more ambitious targets

    In a fresh agreement on the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), EU countries want to further increase targets for domestic processing of strategic raw materials, despite public commitments that processing should be done in resource-rich partner countries.

    New mines take time

    However, new mining projects take many years to come to fruition, said Poinssot, who pointed to the average 17 years it takes to bring a mine from exploration into production, globally.

    “We need to start working now on developing mining projects,” he said. Otherwise, “a certain number of trajectories and scenarios desired by the EU will be constrained by our extraction capacities,” he warned.

    The French Atomic Energy Commission, a key player in French industrial and technological research, also shares this observation, saying EU objectives are “not very credible” because of the intrinsic delays in opening new mines.

    Between now and 2030, “most of the extraction capacity that will be available in the EU […] depends on projects that are already under development,” explains the French body in its opinion on the draft CRMA.

    To address this, the French research energy body suggests that the Commission “define progressively increasing targets for the share of extraction in the EU over different time horizons”.

    In short, without opening a mine now, the EU is already behind its targets.

    “The Commission is a little too optimistic about the speed with which we will be able to deploy industrial solutions to achieve these targets,” Bertrand Boucher, the CEA’s representative to the European Commission, told EURACTIV France.

    Speeding up

    Despite these caveats, the EU has every interest in speeding up mining projects since the transformation and recycling parts of the value chain will remain “permanently insufficient to meet demand,” CEA added.

    Even if all available resources were to be extracted, “more will be needed” because of the very high demand, Bouchet explained.

    For instance, “there won’t be enough resources worldwide” to meet the electric mobility targets adopted by all countries globally, Poinssot explained, adding that “it’s not a question of resources but of timing”.

    Jean-Dominique Senard, Chairman of French carmaker Renault, painted the situation in doomsday terms, saying that “the war of the future will be the war of metals”.

    This means that CRMA targets need to match those of the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA), as advocated by the European Association of Research and Technology Organisations (EARTO), of which CEA is a member.

  • Euromines Advocates for Responsible and Sustainable Mining at Renew CRMA Event

    Euromines Advocates for Responsible and Sustainable Mining at Renew CRMA Event

    Euromines, the European Association of Mining Industries, Metal Ores & Industrial Minerals, emphasised the importance of responsible and sustainable mining, as thecornerstone of achieving Europe’s strategic autonomy in critical raw materials and fostering a competitive transformation aligned with the Green Deal.

    The Importance of Mining in the Green Deal

    Euromines presented three critical points during the event: firstly, the importance of the mining industry in the Green Deal’s industrial transition. As the demand for metals and minerals for green technologies increases, secure access and supply become essential, necessitating more mining activities within the EU.

    Responsible Mining Practices and Sustainability

    Secondly, Euromines called for an honest debate about responsible mining practices, emphasising the need to distinguish between responsible mining in the EU and practices in third countries with weaker environmental standards. To achieve the EU’s green transition, it is vital to recognize and elevate the sustainability performance of EU mining.

    Policy Coherence and Competitive Transformation in Mining

    Thirdly, Euromines urged to support the mining sector in reducing its environmental footprint. While the industry invests heavily in sustainability measures, it requires regulatory recognition and enabling conditions to do more and better. Regulatory coherence and a clear interlinkage between the Net Zero Industry Act, Critical Raw Materials Act, decarbonization, and environmental legislation are crucial for the predictability and viability of mining projects.

    Challenges Faced by the EU Mining Industry

    To ensure the success of the Green Deal, Euromines called for a responsible raw materials policy framework that balances the EU raw materials security of supply, global net-positive impact and environmental protection. The emphasis should be given to resolving conflicting objectives and provide incentives for responsible mining practices.

    Importantly, all speakers agreed with the need to address the European approach to permitting industrial projects. While environmental protection remains the guiding principle for any consideration, there is a lot to improve in the system including on digitalisation, providing one-stop-shop, and certainly on timing.

    Euromines remains committed to fostering responsible and sustainable mining practices and looks forward to continued collaboration with policymakers and stakeholders in shaping Europe’s green transformation.