Critical Raw Materials Act: JRC support for sustainable supply

On 23rd May 2024, the EU Critical Raw Materials Act entered into force. Building on decade-long scientific research, it is another step forward on the path towards a secure and sustainable supply chain of raw materials.

Standing at the beginning of each value chain, raw materials are the backbone of EU’s industry. Based on their economic importance and supply risk, some of them are defined as Critical Raw Materials (CRMs). These are mainly metals and minerals.?

Often produced and used in relatively small quantities, critical raw materials have characteristics that make them essential for products in strategic sectors (and related technologies) like renewable energy, electric mobility, digital, aerospace and defence.?

Currently, global production is concentrated in few countries, both at the extraction and refining stages, posing a strategic dependency challenge for the EU. With demand expected to increase exponentially within upcoming years and changing geopolitical scenarios, the EU needs to anticipate and mitigate possible supply risks.

The CRM Act for secure and sustainable supply chains

The CRM Act aims to ensure the EU's access to a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials by:

• Creating secure and resilient EU critical raw materials supply chains;
• Strengthening Member States’ cooperation to mitigate supply risks;? ?
• Strengthening sustainability and circularity requirements;
• Fostering international engagement and diversifying investment.

The role of the JRC: scientific research behind the Act

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) has been working for over a decade on knowledge developments related to raw materials, closely supporting the Commission’s policies.

The JRC provided scientific evidence that contributed to making the CRM Act more scientifically-sound and robust, with its research feeding into the impact assessment accompanying the Regulation. ?

The CRM Act’s impact assessment stressed the most crucial aspects for EU’s critical raw materials supply chains, and provided an important basis for policy interventions. Particularly, researchers detected high reliance on non-EU sources at many stages of the supply chains, with scarce anticipation and mitigation of supply risks and impacts. Shortages were also observed in the use of the EU's domestic potential, in the recycling rate of many metals and minerals, and in sustainable EU sourcing of CRMs.

JRC-led research also produced a series of Foresight reports (2020, 2023) that were pivotal in providing policy-making with analytical evidence. These reports give a comprehensive analysis of raw materials supply chain dependencies, vulnerabilities and future demand along the whole EU supply chains in strategic sectors, especially in those that play a role for the EU’s net-zero ambitions.

JRC’s research also contributed to the Act by evaluating environmental footprints, recycling, and advanced materials. Such research supports the efforts to increase diversification, make recycling more efficient, lower environmental impacts and improve social benefits associated with EU raw materials supply chains.?

The Raw Materials Information System

Built by the JRC in 2015, the Raw Materials Information System (RMIS) centralises, orders, and gives visibility to knowledge on raw materials at the EU level, with a primary focus on metals and minerals.?

RMIS gives straightforward access to extensive information on the EU’s supply of single raw materials at different processing stages (extraction, processing and recycling), and provides profiles for all EU countries, plus countries in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. This enables close and regular analyses of critical and strategic raw materials stocks and flows, both present and future.

The annual RMIS Workshop brings together European and international raw materials stakeholders, aims to coordinate and pool knowledge.

With the help of the JRC, raw materials knowledge gains an ever-growing strategic value in achieving a competitive and future-proof EU.