Euromines welcomes a European Green Deal and is prepared to take the necessary measures to make Europe the world's first climate neutral continent. 

The Emission Trading System is one of the most important legal pillars and support systems for the European energy intensive industries. Therefore, any amendment brought to it or any of its subsequent acts in the light of the proposed increased climate ambition for 2030 should be based on a stable, consistent, coherent, socio-economically feasible policy framework, allowing the implementation of the most efficient measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while ensuring that long-time goals and the international competitiveness of the industry are not endangered.  

Read more in the Euromines Position on Amendment of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS).

We all have the right to say no.

The education we receive, and democracy give us the right to say no, but it also teaches us the duty to respect those who say yes. The exercise of citizenship stems from the responsibility with which we love rights and duties, pondering the arguments of all parties. It is from this exercise that emerge solutions of common interest.

Read the article in the attached PDF file.

The original Portuguese version.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Euromines.

Climate change is perhaps the most important issue facing our world today. Its consequences could be catastrophic to all the people, animals and plants that live on this Earth. As a foundational sector that affects many other industries and activities through the raw materials produced, there are a variety of ways the European mineral raw materials industry helps fight climate change. These contributions fall into two main categories: providing materials for sustainable efforts and continuously improving processes within the mineral raw materials sector.

Euromines is publishing its Position on 'Implementation of the Action Plan on Critical Raw Materials' officially presented yesterday by Euromines President Mr. Mark Rachovides at the hearing of the Consultative Commission on Industrial Change (CCMI) of the European Economic and Social Committee. The main topic of the Hearing of CCMI 177 opinion was the Critical Raw Materials Resilience.

Euromines welcomed the Commission Communication “Critical Raw Materials Resilience: Charting a Path towards greater Security and Sustainability” (COM(2020)474 final). This document confirms the principles of the Raw Materials Initiative, launched in 2008 with the main objective of assure a sustainable and safe supply of mineral raw materials to the European industry and society, through three balanced pillars.

This communication includes an Action Plan where ten actions to diversify and strengthen Europe’s raw materials supply are proposed. It also states that the Commission “intends to develop and implement these priority objectives and the action plan with the help of Member States and stakeholders, in particular the EIP Raw Materials and the Raw Materials Supply Group.”

The Position Paper is now available.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a total of 17 global sustainable development goals that were adopted by the United Nations (UN) in September 2015 and came into force in January 2016. Ecological, economic and social challenges such as climate change, inequality and poverty are to be solved by 2030 by means of this strategy. Here’s how the European mineral raw materials industry is contributing to these goals.

Euromines supports the preparation of EU nature restoration targets in 2021. The different policies like the Biodiversity Strategy 2030 and the Zero Pollution Action Plan, but also other related policies like the Industrial Strategy and the list of Critical Raw Materials, must be coherent. A proactive dialog between our sector and EU decision makers is key to let our sector interact as source for EU businesses within the unique EU framework of nature protection. The European mineral raw materials industry can contribute with its best practices of biodiversity conservation.

Due to its long mining history, Europe has developed unique competence in rehabilitation and eco-system management and the European mining sector actively supports the conservation of biodiversity.

Europe has its own natural resources, world-class deposits and still major potential. Today, the European mineral raw materials industry occupies no more than a fraction of 1% of the land surface on a temporary basis. Raw-material supply makes use of geological anomalies that cannot be moved from where they are found. Deposits may be situated in remote (and relatively pristine) areas. 

Metals and minerals from the mining and recycling industrial ecosystem are crucial drivers for transition to a sustainable low carbon economy. Safeguarding supply of critical metals/minerals is essential for strategic autonomy of the EU economy (which does not fully depend on providers outside Europe). 
Looking ahead, considering increasing pressures on land use in and around cities, protection of and support for biodiversity is to become increasingly important for all sectors, particularly including the mining industry.

Euromines supports the preparation of EU nature restoration targets in 2021. The different policies like the Biodiversity Strategy 2030 and the Zero Pollution Action Plan, but also other related policies like the Industrial Strategy and the list of Critical Raw Materials, must be coherent. A proactive dialog between our sector and EU decision makers is key to let our sector interact as source for EU businesses within the unique EU framework of nature protection. The European mineral raw materials industry can contribute with its best practices of biodiversity conservation.

Due to its long mining history, Europe has developed unique competence in rehabilitation and eco-system management and the European mining sector actively supports the conservation of biodiversity.

Amendment of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) - Euromines Positions the recognized representative of the European mineral raw materials industry, covering more than 42 different metals and minerals and employing 350.000 directly and about four times as many indirectly, the first segment of most strategic value chains and a critical supplier of materials vital for a transition to a low-carbon society, Euromines welcomes a European Green Deal and is prepared to take the necessary measures to make Europe the world's first climate neutral continent.

The Emission Trading System is one of the most important legal pillars and support systems for the European energy intensive industries. Therefore any amendment brought to it or any of its subsequent acts in the light of the proposed increased climate ambition for 2030 should be based on a stable, consistent, coherent, socio-economically feasible policy framework, allowing the implementation of the most efficient measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while ensuring that long-time goals and the international competitiveness of the industry are not endangered. 

The road map for increased biodiversity has been produced within a project financed by the strategic innovation programme Swedish Mining Innovation, a joint venture by Vinnova, Formas and the Swedish Energy Agency. The strategic work has been jointly financed by Boliden, LKAB and Svemin.
The project has been led by Ecogain in close cooperation with Svemin’s Nature Working Group. This working group includes representatives from Boliden, LKAB, Nordkalk, Zinkgruvan and Cementa.
The steering committee has been made up of representatives from Svemin, LKAB, Boliden and Swedish Mining Innovation.
The project has run during the period December 2019 – December 2020. This road map is a first step towards the Swedish mining and minerals industry's 2030 target for biodiversity.

Read more on Svemin website.

from problem definition of resource use to operational characterization factors for dissipation of elements to the environment

Authors:
Lauran van Oers, Jeroen B. Guinée, Reinout Heijungs, Rita Schulze, Rodrigo A. F. Alvarenga, Jo Dewulf, Johannes Drielsma, David Sanjuan-Delmás, Tobias C. Kampmann, Glenn Bark, Ainara Garcia Uriarte, Pierre Menger, Mats Lindblom, Lucas Alcon, Manuel Sevilla Ramos, Juan Manuel Escobar Torres
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment,

Published: 11 September 2020

Purpose
The methods for assessing the impact of using abiotic resources in life cycle assessment (LCA) have always been heavily debated. One of the main reasons for this is the lack of a common understanding of the problem related to resource use. This article reports the results of an effort to reach such common understanding between different stakeholder groups and the LCA community. For this, a top-down approach was applied.