Europe needs raw materials for the transition to a climate-neutral economy. This fact was also acknowledged in the newly negotiated German coalition treaty.
As Greens, we want to support our economy in securing a sustainable supply of raw materials and facilitate responsible domestic raw material extraction. We have to make full use of the economic and ecological potential of recycling and thus create new jobs, especially in regions that are most affected by the transformation of our industry. Green industrial innovation, new low- or zero-carbon production technologies, resource conservation, and efficiency and a functioning market for secondary critical raw materials are the ways to succeed in transforming our industry and transition to a climate-neutral economy.
The use of Critical Raw Materials (CRM) in green technologies has positive effects on the environment. Lithium and cobalt in batteries, for example, enable electromobility and thus the transformation of the transport sector. However, we know that the quantities of CRM needed for the green transformation in Europe are often exaggerated and based on false assumptions and calculations. That’s why I am particularly happy that the recently adopted report on the EU Strategy for Critical Raw Materials calls on the Commission to carefully review the criticality assessment methodology before 2023, ahead of the publication of the next list of CRM.
According to the Oeko Institut policy brief, I had commissioned earlier this year, Green technologies are responsible for the increased demand of only 6 of the total 30 CRM. Artificially high demand forecasts for CRM lead to false conclusions with serious implications for our industrial strategy, our climate, biodiversity and social goals.
In our report, as adopted by the plenary, we also further call on the Commission to duly take into account all environmental externalities related to the extraction and processing of CRM in its supply risk analysis and to engage in a more comprehensive debate involving all stakeholders.
Mining poses a risk for local populations, biodiversity, and the climate. A blind call for more mining in Europe is wrong. Mining has to be sustainable, and Natura 2000 and other protected areas should not fall victim to a problem that can only be tackled by a truly circular economy. I was very disappointed when we missed the opportunity in the European Parliament in November to unequivocally commit to a stop of mining in Natura 2000 and unique natural areas.
In the new German coalition agreement, we call for a modernized federal mining law. I will follow this discussion closely.
Furthermore, in the coalition agreement, we have agreed to support an effective EU supply chain law based on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights that does not overburden small and medium-sized enterprises. The law on corporate due diligence, which is crucial for the sustainability of supply chains will be improved where necessary.
The coalition agreement supports the EU Commission’s proposal on the Deforestation-Free Supply Chains Act and the EU’s proposed ban on imports of products from forced labor. The coalition partners want to strengthen rules-based free trade based on fair social, environmental, and human rights standards and advocate a German and European trade policy against protectionism and unfair trade practices.
Closed material cycles and reducing primary consumption of Critical Raw Materials are key to ensuring the transition to climate neutrality. This also gives us the opportunity for sustainable economic development and the creation of jobs in existing and new industries.
To this end, in Germany, the new coalition will be working on adapting the existing legal framework, defining clear targets, and reviewing waste legislation. The coalition will be bundling existing raw material policy strategies in a “national circular economy strategy”. On this basis, uniform standards in the EU will be advocated for.
For us, all the products must be durable, reusable, recyclable and, if possible, repairable. The coalition partners want to strengthen waste prevention through legal targets and ecologically beneficial reusable, return and deposit systems as well as industry agreements and to support innovative, sustainable ideas such as shared use.
The coalition partners are establishing an incentive system to dispose of certain electrical appliances and hazardous lithium-ion batteries in an environmentally sound manner and to feed them into the circular economy. The overall aim is to reduce the destruction of returned goods and move toward resource-conserving and recycling-friendly packaging design and the use of recycled materials.
The coalition also aims at introducing a recycling label. By accelerating the development of quality standards for recyclates, new high-quality material cycles will be created. The coalition parties advocate for higher recycling quotas and product-specific minimum quotas for the use of recyclates and secondary raw materials at the European level.
Last but not least, we want to increase Europe’s open strategic autonomy. This means creating its own capacity to act in the global context and being less dependent on a few third countries and less vulnerable in the important digital, health, defense, renewable energy and energy-intensive industrial ecosystems. This has to be achieved while being fully committed to a rules-based system of international trade.
When speaking about the Raw Materials Strategy we are looking in the same direction in Europe and Germany.
Our focus has to be on material savings and reuse, as well as ambitious collection and processing of raw materials, which means correspondingly a real circular economy. We need a sustainable raw material policy to protect our climate and biodiversity delivering a reliable economic perspective.