CE-SC5-07-2020
Securing the sustainable access to raw materials, including metals, industrial minerals, wood- and rubber-based, construction and forest-based raw materials, and particularly Critical Raw Materials (CRM), is of high importance for the EU economy. Complex primary and secondary resources contain many different raw materials. Their processing, reuse, recycling and recovery schemes are complex and imply different steps, ranging from collection, logistics, sorting and separation to cleaning, refining and purification of materials.
The challenge for industry is to scale up promising raw materials production technologies and to demonstrate that raw materials can be produced in an innovative and sustainable way in order to make sure that research and innovation end up on the market, to strengthen the competitiveness of the European raw materials industries, meet ambitious energy and climate targets for 2030, minimise environmental impacts and risks, and gain the trust of EU citizens in the raw materials sector.
This specific challenge addresses the development of "innovative pilot actions"[1], which is one of the major targets of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Raw Materials.
Scope:
Actions should develop and demonstrate innovative pilots for the clean and sustainable production of non-energy, non-agricultural raw materials in the EU from primary and/or secondary sources finishing at Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 6-7.
All actions should contribute to achieving the targets of the EIP on Raw Materials, particularly in terms of innovative pilot actions on processing, refining and/or recycling for the innovative production of raw materials, and to building the EU knowledge base of primary and secondary raw materials by feeding into the EC Raw Materials Information System – RMIS[2]. Actions should also contribute to improving the awareness of relevant external stakeholders and the general public across the EU about the importance of raw materials for society, the challenges related to their supply within the EU and about proposed solutions which could help to improve society's acceptance of and trust in sustainable raw materials production in the EU, duly taking into account the applicable EU environmental legislation.