{"id":99882,"date":"2026-10-06T08:50:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T06:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/power-shift.de\/?p=99882"},"modified":"2026-10-05T14:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T12:00:08","slug":"rohstoffwende-statt-rohstoffrausch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/power-shift.de\/en\/rohstoffwende-statt-rohstoffrausch\/","title":{"rendered":"Raw materials transition instead of raw materials rush - Facts & demands for a fair raw materials policy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The raw material transition is the most effective way out of dependency. This is the conclusion reached by the AK Rohstoffe in its paper \u2018Fakten & Forderungen\u2019 of October 2026. The alliance of more than 30 environmental, human rights and development organizations calls for less primary raw material consumption, a holistic circular economy and strong environmental and human rights standards.<\/p>\n

Why more raw material extraction does not result from dependency<\/h2>\n

Mining more and more raw materials does not solve the challenges of the future. It exacerbates waste of resources, global injustices, and environmental and human rights conflicts without reducing dependence on other countries.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the EU continues to focus on more mining with the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA). At the same time, protection standards are coming under pressure, such as the weakening of the EU Supply Chain Directive (CSDDD), weakened environmental assessments and accelerated permitting procedures.<\/p>\n

Five facts and demands on the raw materials transition<\/h2>\n

1. Supply Chain Laws Strengthen Human Rights<\/h3>\n

Fact:<\/strong> Affected people around the world use the Supply Chain Act to claim their rights. For the first time, many companies are systematically addressing human rights and environmental risks in their supply chains. Voluntary standards such as the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) are also gaining in importance: Around 80 percent of passenger cars registered in Germany come from IRMA member companies. However, IRMA also emphasises that voluntary rules should only supplement the legal framework.<\/p>\n

Claim:<\/strong> Maintain and effectively enforce the level of protection provided by the German Supply Chain Act. Address existing weaknesses in the transposition of the CSDDD into German law, notably through a well-designed liability regime and an independent enforcement authority.<\/p>\n

2. Effectively protect the environment and water<\/h3>\n

Fact:<\/strong> Only around nine percent of German rivers, lakes and coastal waters are in good ecological condition. The vast majority fail to meet the objectives of the Water Framework Directive. Extraction of raw materials additionally increases the pressure on water bodies, biodiversity and ecosystems.<\/p>\n

Claim:<\/strong> Consistently implement the Water Framework Directive, ensure environmental and social impact assessments without compromising and protect particularly sensitive ecosystems from raw material extraction.<\/p>\n

3. Who is affected, must co-decide<\/h3>\n

Fact:<\/strong> More than half of the resources for future technologies are located in or near indigenous territories. Nevertheless, the right of indigenous peoples to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) is often disregarded in mining projects.<\/p>\n

Claim:<\/strong> Ensure access to information, effective participation, complaints and redress procedures for data subjects. Implement the rights of indigenous peoples, in particular FPIC, in a binding manner.<\/p>\n

4. Less consumption of raw materials creates security of supply<\/h3>\n

Fact:<\/strong> Around 90 percent of the raw materials used worldwide are used only once. A consistent circular economy could reduce the need for new primary production by up to 40 percent by 2050, depending on the raw material. It could create around 700,000 jobs in the EU by 2030 and create up to 880 billion euros in added value in Germany by 2045.<\/p>\n

Claim:<\/strong> Promote long-lasting products, reuse, repair and high-quality recycling. Through the National Circular Economy Strategy, primary raw material consumption in Germany will be reduced to 7-8 tonnes per capita per year by 2045. Set binding reduction targets with an ambitious Circular Economy Act of the EU, without weakening circular value chains in the Global South.<\/p>\n

5. Investing public money in a sustainable way<\/h3>\n

Fact:<\/strong> At least four of the thirteen guarantees for untied financial loans (UFK guarantees) issued by the Federal Government since 2009 contain publicly documented indications or complaints about environmental and\/or human rights problems. Nevertheless, public funds continue to flow into controversial projects.<\/p>\n

Claim:<\/strong> Link foreign trade promotion and raw materials funds to binding environmental, human rights and transparency standards. disclose environmental and social assessments as well as financing structures prior to any funding decision. Investing public resources in the raw materials sector as a priority in the circular economy.<\/p>\n

What a sustainable raw materials policy means<\/h2>\n

A raw materials policy in the sense of the raw materials transition combines security of supply, environmental and human rights protection as well as global justice. It stands for:<\/p>\n

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  1. Less resource consumption and a consistent circular economy instead of more and more raw material extraction<\/li>\n
  2. Strong and reliable environmental and human rights standards instead of their weakening<\/li>\n
  3. Democratic participation instead of acceleration at all costs<\/li>\n
  4. Global justice and responsibility instead of passing on environmental and social impacts to other countries and communities<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Who is behind the paper: the AK Raw Materials<\/h2>\n

    AK Rohstoffe is a civil society alliance of more than 30 environmental, human rights and development organisations. Since 2013, he has been committed to a social-ecological and globally just raw materials policy, especially in the metals sector. The paper is supported by Bread for the World, BUND, Germanwatch, INKOTA, Misereor, NABU, PowerShift and WWF. The coordination office is located at PowerShift e.V. in Berlin.<\/p>\n

    Download paper and contact<\/h2>\n

    The full paper \"Fakten & Forderungen\" (status: October 2026) stands as PDF for download<\/a> ready. More information can be found on ak-rohstoffe.de<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Contact person:<\/strong> Hannah Pilgrim, AK Rohstoffe Coordination Office c\/o PowerShift e.V., Greifswalder Stra\u00dfe 4, 10405 Berlin, Germany, e-mail: hannah.pilgrim@power-shift.de<\/a><\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The raw material transition is the most effective way out of dependency. This is the conclusion reached by the AK Rohstoffe in its paper \u2018Fakten & Forderungen\u2019 of October 2026. The alliance of more than 30 environmental, human rights and development organizations calls for less primary raw material consumption, a holistic circular economy and strong environmental and human rights standards. Why more raw material extraction does not result from dependence More and more...","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":99887,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[131],"tags":[504,503,3,134],"post_series":[],"thema":[18],"coauthors":[257],"class_list":["post-99882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-positionen","tag-alternative-rohstoffwoche","tag-rohstoffgipfel","tag-rohstoffpolitik","tag-rohstoffwende","thema-rohstoffpolitik","entry","has-media"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/power-shift.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/power-shift.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/power-shift.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/power-shift.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/power-shift.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99882"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/power-shift.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99891,"href":"https:\/\/power-shift.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99882\/revisions\/99891"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/power-shift.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/power-shift.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/power-shift.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/power-shift.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99882"},{"taxonomy":"post_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/power-shift.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_series?post=99882"},{"taxonomy":"thema","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/power-shift.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/thema?post=99882"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/power-shift.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=99882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}