RMIS Roadmap 2021

Knowledge is essential for the sustainable and secure supply of raw materials, both primary and secondary, due to their role in the EU's economy and society. Proper knowledge management promotes a globally competitive raw material sector in a broad sense along the whole value chain. This applies not only to exploration, extraction, processing, manufacturing and recycling, but also investments, innovation, trade, spatial development, skills and education. Knowledge is also key for policy support, informed debate and decision-making. The Raw Materials Information System (RMIS) is the European Commission’s reference web-based knowledge platform on non-fuel, non-energy raw materials from primary to secondary sources. The RMIS is a permanent website of the JRC Science Hub, originally a commitment in the 2015 Circular Economy Action Plan(COM(2015) 614). The RMIS is a core component of the EU Raw Materials Knowledge Base (EU RMKB), the vital interface between European stakeholders and the EU policy community. In particular, it facilitates harmonised availability of key data and analyses, highlights priority needs, as well as contributes to coordinated dissemination. The RMIS has significantly developed since its launch in 2015. During this six years RMIS reached its mature stage, supporting the the implementation of numerous EU Community policy fields which required its services, as also explicitly manifested in their sectoral policy documents, and provided a clear mandate for the priority fields of its development. The RMIS has become a well-known, reliable information and knowledge source with a well-established stakeholders network of ca. 200+ experts, a wider interest group of circa 1400 recipients of the RMIS Newsletters, and the several thousand visitors who look for raw materials related information at the RMIS each month. The RMIS is expected to fulfil an increasingly broad spectrum of knowledge needs related to raw materials. Towards this end, the RMIS knowledge providers network includes most relevant EU funded projects on raw materials, such as specific calls under the Horizon 2020 and EIT Raw Materials projects. Considering the above facts and the disciplined JRC knowledge management recommendations, the RMIS has arrived at a major milestone of its lifecycle, to decide on which way(s) it shall progress forward when considering an enhanced future knowledge management facility and practice. This report provides an overview of the key foreseen RMIS development priorities for, roughly, the period 2021-2024. It also includes an assessment of the knowledge management instruments at the EC and JRC levels with a view of identifying feasible options to improve the RMIS knowledge management functions.JRC.D.3 - Land Resource

Accounting for trade in raw materials: usability of the existing data sets and indicators

Within the framework of the Administrative Arrangement between DG GROWTH and JRC No. SI2.738536, Task 2.3, “Preliminary assessment of selected pilot country's raw materials”, this is a data-mapping step for inclusion of country, product and material-specific trade-related data and indicators on raw materials into the RMIS.JRC.D.3 - Land Resource

Building Africa-EU raw materials knowledge base

The sixth edition of the "Raw Materials Week" took place from the 15 to 19 November 2021, as a hybrid and online event, gathering a wide range of stakeholders discussing policies and research initiatives in the field of raw materials. The 2021 Raw Materials Week was centred around the eighth annual High-level Conference of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on raw materials. Several complementary events took place, addressing the latest news on raw materials in the EU, including: Critical Raw Materials, Trends in innovation and Skills for raw materials, EU Horizon technology success stories, EU-Canada Partnership, UNECE Resource management. As part of the event, the JRC jointly with DG GROW, organized the 4 th EU Raw Materials Knowledge Base event titled “Knowledge needs – EU-Africa focus”, on November 18th, 2021. This report is a proceeding note of this event. It gives an overview of the themes touched by the speakers in a concise and balanced way. Finally, it includes (as Annexes) the agenda, the speakers’ biography, and the slides and available abstracts of the presentations. The event also touched upon few broader aspects in the context of the relation between the EU and the Africa continent, including the needs of both parties for a fair, responsible and secure transition towards a green society – highlighting how sustainable raw materials value chains could contribute to these overarching objectives.JRC.D.3 - Land Resource

Raw Materials Information System (RMIS): towards v2.0 - An Interim Progress Report & Roadmap

The European Commission's (EC) Raw Materials Initiative (RMI) emphasises that raw materials are essential for the sound and sustainable functioning of Europe’s industries and, in a broader context, of Europe’s economy and society. The EC is committed to promote the competitiveness of industries related to raw materials. These industries play an important role in many downstream sectors in the European Union (EU) such as construction, chemicals, automotive, aerospace, machinery, pharmacy, equipment, renewable energy devices, and defence. These sectors have a combined added value of around EUR 1,000 billion and provide employment for some 30 million people. Securing the undistorted supply of raw materials and, in particular, Critical Raw Materials (CRM) is thus crucial and requires a sound and continuously updated knowledge base, namely the European Raw Materials Knowledge Base (EURMKB), as highlighted in the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Raw Materials, in its Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) from 2013, particularly in the Action area no. II.8. In this context, and responding to a specific action of the 2015 Circular Economy Communication, the EC's Directorate General (DG) Joint Research Centre (JRC), in close collaboration with DG GROWTH, is advancing its Raw Materials Information System (RMIS). The first version (hereinafter referred to as RMIS 1.0) was launched in March 2015. The advanced RMIS (hereinafter referred to as RMIS 2.0) intends to become a one-stop information gateway and knowledge service centre for non-energy, non-food primary (e.g. extracted through mining) and secondary (e.g. recycled, recovered from mining waste) raw materials and materials/commodities. RMIS 2.0 will (a) support European Union (EU) policy with tailor-made products like the Raw Material Scoreboard and CRM assessments, and (b) to help coordinate other EU level data and information on raw materials. The EU policy support will rely on knowledge from the EUKBRM. This will be made available directly in the RMIS from different sources. The coordination role will be jointly developed with Member States, industry representatives, and other stakeholders, e.g. hosting an entry point to the EURMKB and by further coordination activities with focus on compilation, presentation and application of EU level data. Towards the launch of the RMIS 2.0 (foreseen in the 4th quarter of 2017), this “Interim Progress Report & Roadmap” presents the up-to-date development of the RMIS, including the key policy support knowledge needs that shall be fulfilled, and starts linking identified (EURMKB) knowledge needs with knowledge providers. It also presents foreseen key building blocks for the policy support and several development milestones of the RMIS 2.0 (as of February 2017). The key building blocks focus on a number of themes, including: Critical Raw Materials (CRM) and criticality analysis; Material Flow Analysis (MFA) including the EC Material System Analysis (MSA); the Raw Materials Scoreboard; trade policy aspects; material efficiency and secondary raw materials; sustainability aspects; business & industry; Research & Innovation (R&I); and the policy context. With a view to reinforce synergies and stregthen cooperation with raw materials knowledge providers, as well as with other relevant stakeholder groups (including RMIS users), the first RMIS international workshop will take place in March 2017. The aim of the workshop is to present progress and the foreseen development milestones, as well as to discuss the frame and concept of the cooperation with stakeholders.JRC.D.3-Land Resource

Collection of available techniques for the prevention or reduction of environmental impacts in non-energy extractive industries (NEEI)

The European Green Deal and its environmental, climate, circular economy and industrial policy actions commit to twin green and digital transitions and to move towards zero pollution for air, soil and water. Achieving these objectives requires access to sustainable raw materials. The objective of the study presented here was to investigate which information already exists in the public domain regarding techniques that could possibly contribute to preventing or reducing the impact on the environment from non-energy extractive activities. The study starts by analysing the Key Environmental Issues, i.e. the areas where the largest environmental impacts could be expected for the various extractive sub-sectors as a whole in the EU. The report then presents a review of 430 literature references that were used to identify 149 Prevention or Reduction Techniques (PRT) which are currently being applied in the non-energy extractive industries to address these Key Environmental Issues. This in-depth overview of PRT can be used as an interactive screening toolkit, with PRT identified for the main Key Environmental Issues. However, not all PRT apply to all extractive sub-sectors, types of mineral resources, and extractive operations. Hence, it must be stressed that the application of PRT is very much dependent on site-specific conditions. In order to maximise the usability of the collected data, additional detailed information is needed with particular reference to PRT relevance for mineral resources and extractive activities and applicability conditions. Furthermore, during the study, the importance of applying a risk-specific approach emerged, particularly in the evaluation of the site- or operation-specific applicability.JRC.B.5 - Circular Economy and Sustainable Industr

A review of European Union legal provisions on the environmental impact assessment of non-energy minerals extraction projects

Raw materials are essential to our modern lifestyle, they are used in a wide range of applications from building materials to food industries, clean energy or electronics. In 2008, the European Commission adopted the Raw Materials Initiative, which is targeted at the secure access to raw materials both within the EU and globally. It identified a range of objectives and actions, inter alia, conducting resource efficient exploration securing the access to domestic mineral reserves and promoting streamlined permitting. Non-energy extractive industries (NEEI) extraction sites, if not properly designed and managed, may have significant impacts on the environment. These effects depend, inter alia, on the type of mineral, extraction methodology, substances used in mineral treatment, extractive waste characteristics, site-specific environmental conditions and the way extractive waste is managed. The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive provides a framework in order to avoid, prevent or reduce and, if possible, offset likely significant adverse effects on the environment at the earliest possible stage in the technical planning and decision-making for certain public and private projects. This study may assist the sector in achieving a fluent approval of the EIA report and a streamlined environmental permitting. It is a concise document for developers, competent authorities, the public, and the “public concerned” encompassing with all the relevant Community legislation. It provides a review of the key environmental factors and some impact assessment elements along the mining life cycle phases, in addition to a few good practice cases. It also reviews the risk assessment methodologies, environmental monitoring, mitigation measures and assessment of alternatives, as well as environmental liability and information management issues.JRC.D.3 - Land Resource

Critical Raw Materials and the Circular Economy – Background report

This report is a background document used by several European Commission services to prepare the EC report on critical raw materials and the circular economy, a commitment of the European Commission made in its Communication ‘EU action plan for the Circular Economy’. It represents a JRC contribution to the Raw Material Initiative and to the EU Circular Economy Action Plan. It combines the results of several research programmes and activities of the JRC on critical raw materials in a context of circular economy, for which a large team has contributed in terms of data and knowledge developments. Circular use of critical raw materials in the EU is analysed, also taking a sectorial perspective. The following sectors are analysed in more detail: mining waste, landfills, electric and electronic equipment, batteries, automotive, renewable energy, defence and chemicals and fertilisers. Conclusions and opportunities for further work are also presented.JRC.D.3-Land Resource

Channelling knowledge from European projects into the Raw Materials Information System (RMIS)

European projects, such as Horizon 2020 projects and EIT-KIC projects, are among the most important knowledge providers to the Raw Materials Information System (RMIS). Through the RMIS, the EC DG JRC supports mapping, structuring and making further sense of this knowledge, so that raw materials knowledge needs identified by EU policy, can be met rapidly and systematically; ensuring coordination, coherence, and quality-assurance as well as verification as far as needed and through additional products that build-on, and combine these projects’ outputs. In support of this process, in 2018 the EC made it mandatory for certain Horizon 2020 projects ( ) to contribute to the further development of the RMIS. Knowledge flows from EU funded projects to the RMIS are expected to become increasingly important in the context of the forthcoming Horizon Europe – the next R&I framework programme. Held virtually on December 3rd and co-organised by DG JRC and EASME, the 2020 RMIS workshop continues the well-established dialogue between the DG JRC with the EU-funded project consortia in relation to the RMIS. The overarching aim of the workshop was to facilitate a technical dialogue that can support efficient knowledge transfers from EU projects (H2020 + EIT RM) into RMIS, and make sure that project’s outputs best contribute to RMIS & EU policy objectives. The workshop gathered nearly 80 participants, including Directors from JRC, EASME, DG GROW, DG RTD and EIT Raw Materials. It saw the active contribution from about 20 EU funded projects on raw materials.JRC.D.3 - Land Resource

EU Country Profiles in the Raw Materials Information System (RMIS): Romania

The European Country Profiles module of the European Commission’s Raw Materials Information System (RMIS) provides country-specific data and indicators related to non-food, non-energy raw materials. These data and indicators are derived from data from official sources and well-established data providers, or by their elaboration. Each country profile is structured into nine thematic sections: i) Key indicators; ii) Investment and regulatory framework; iii) Research, development and innovation; iv) Resources and reserves; v) Supply; vi) Raw material use; vii) Trade; viii) Environment; and ix) Social & Policy. The current report presents the data and indicators for Romania, mirroring the RMIS’ country profile for Romania, elaborated in the period June-September 2020.JRC.D.3 - Land Resource

EU country profiles in the Raw Materials Information System (RMIS): Estonia, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia

The European Country Profiles module of the European Commission’s Raw Materials Information System (RMIS) provides country-specific data and indicators related to non-food, non-energy raw materials. These are based on official sources, either ready to use or further processed. The current report presents the data and indicators for Estonia, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia mirroring the corresponding RMIS’ country profiles, prepared over the period April-July 2021. The detailed data are presented in annexes, by individual country. Each annex is structured into nine thematic sections: i) Key indicators; ii) Investment and regulatory framework; iii) Research, development, and innovation; iv) Resources and reserves; v) Supply; vi) Raw material use; vii) Trade; viii) Environment; and ix) Social & PolicyJRC.D.3 - Land Resource