The European Defence Agency (EDA) Materials CapTech and the Incubation Forum for Circular Economy in European Defence (IF CEED) jointly organized a workshop “Circularity of Critical Raw Materials“. The workshop was held on March 15, 2022, online.
The purpose was the identification of the most important
critical raw materials – CRM in the defence sector. CRMs have been identified by the European Commission as those with
high supply risk and of
high importance to the EU economy (e.g., electronics, environmental technologies, the automotive industry, the aerospace industry, etc.). The last,
fourth list from 2020, contains more than
30 CRMs (only 14 CRM in 2011), including those that are of high importance to the energy sector, e.g.,
lithium and
cobalt.
During the discussion, experts focused on the circularity of CRMs (reuse, recyclability, etc.), supply chains and environmental constraints (REACH). The optimization of current production processes, material innovation, and alternative technologies that require different materials was discussed. One of the solutions to reduce the use of CRM is to replace the CRMs with circular materials with similar capabilities that are available in the EU. Consequently, this would create entirely new value chains that require time and financial input.
By introducing a circular economy in the defence area, EDA with the support of its Member States aims to reduce the environmental impact (reduce the carbon footprint) and strengthen Europe’s strategic autonomy by increasing resource recycling, reducing waste, and reducing Europe’s dependence on imported strategic materials and components. To address these challenges, IF CEED was established aiming to incubate joint projects and their respective consortia, enable innovative solutions transition and new business models, and make proposals to mitigate the environmental impact of the defence sector.
The online workshop was attended by more than 70 materials and stakeholder experts from the EU Member States and other countries, including partnership SiEnE representatives.
Partnership
SiEnE represents a
point of contact to establish and foster
international collaboration between
Slovenian stakeholders and
international partners on
energy-related topics (civil use, military use or dual-use) through different international
defence programs (e.g.,
EDA’s EnE CapTech, IF CEED, CF SEEDS),
projects and
global defence value chains.
Additional information
For more information about your participation in the SiEnE activities and involvement in international activities, projects, or supply chains, contact us.
dr. Kim MEZGA .:. +386 2 333 13 54 .:. SiEnE@teces.si
