The green transition is leading to a rapid increase in demand for often rare commodities such as critical raw materials (CRMs), as they are highly important for many innovations and key technologies. Since Europe itself has hardly any suitable domestic resources, it is dependent on imports often from only a few countries for many critical raw materials. Strategies such as diversification and increasing internal EU production could help reduce the European Union's dependencies in a geopolitically difficult environment. However, the circular economy in particular could play an increasingly important role in this: It can help to keep a larger amount of materials in the system for longer and reduce the need for primary materials. However, it is often only poorly developed for critical raw materials.
Therefore, in the context of this project, the researchers analysed in particular to which extent the EU's Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), published in March 2023, is suitable for supporting this objective of strengthening security of supply and the goal of climate neutrality.