Strategic projects are at the heart of the EU regulation on “secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials” (English short form: CRMA). It aims to comply with the Regulation's benchmarks (including: podcast #46), including the expansion of recycling capacities and intra-European mining. As civil society organisations, we are critical of these projects because they can undermine indigenous peoples, labour and human rights. However, they can also be used to invest in recycling capacities instead of more mining. In the following background paper, we have therefore formulated demands and expectations as AK Raw Materials, so that the Strategic Projects do not place security of supply of industry above democracy, human rights and environmental protection.
