PM: Critical Raw Materials Act: PowerShift criticizes threat to standards
Berlin, 14 March 2023: The EU Commission plans to bring the further processing of critical raw materials to Europe and also wants to promote the massive extraction of raw materials in the EU. This comes from an Draft for the Critical Raw Materials Act, which the EU Commission intends to present on Thursday, 16.3.2023 and which is available to PowerShift in advance.
"Raw countries are barely mentioned in the draft", criticises Michael Reckordt, raw material expert at PowerShift. The EU Commission had repeatedly stressed in advance that it wanted to extend the supply chains to the partner countries and thus also enable value creation on the ground. With the aim of bringing 40 percent of the processing of raw materials into the EU, it is torpedoing this interest.
"Also, as regards compliance with human rights, environmental and climate standards, there is no strengthening in the draft. Accelerating planning at many levels threatens to run counter to these standards even in the EU and jeopardises local approval for dismantling", Reckordt continues.
How the very high demand for critical raw materials could be reduced is not stated in the draft: On important issues such as recycling, only imprecise wishes are formulated for member states. Concretely, the draft is only in relation to permanentagnate. “It is good that something is happening in this area, but this concerns only a small amount of raw materials and only a single product. There is an urgent need to set binding recycling and recyclate use rates for other products across the EU and finally initiate a raw material turnaround", Reckordt calls for.
Press contacts
Michael Reckordt, raw material expert, michael.reckordt@power-shift.de, 0163 633 63 72
English (US)