Please note that this closed-door roundtable will be held under the Chatham House rule.
In recent years, the EU has made remarkable progress on its Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) agenda. The Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), effective as of May 2024, has laid the regulatory groundwork to sustain the EU’s capacity to sustainably produce, refine and recycle CRMs. The numerous applications for strategic projects signal a renewed investment interest along the value chain. Building on the recommendations of the Draghi report, the recently released Clean Industrial Deal has reaffirmed the European Commission’s commitment to swiftly implement the CRMA provisions, while further strengthening this framework by establishing an EU Critical Raw Material Centre.
Despite the policy momentum, challenging market conditions still hinder the viability of EU-based CRM operations. EU producers struggle to compete with foreign counterparts that operate under significantly lower environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards. Furthermore, manufacturers remain hesitant to absorb the premium associated with ESG-compliant production. In the context of increasing trade restrictions and the growing recognition of the link between sustainability performance and security of supply, a robust EU CRM strategy will require measures to promote the creation of an alternative sustainable and securely-supplied premium market for CRMs.
Against this backdrop, the roundtable aims to bring together senior stakeholders from EU and international institutions, industry, market operators, think tanks and NGOs to discuss how to support the creation of a premium market for CRMs in the EU and beyond.
