CRMA – An Opportunity for Sustainable Use of Mineral Resources?
Mineral resources are key to industry and modern technology – for example, a smartphone contains over 50 different metals. With the growing demand for raw materials, there is intense global competition. Technologically advanced countries such as Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan are trying to secure stable supplies, while China is striving for raw material dominance. The EU faces a difficult situation – it is a major consumer but a small producer, which makes it vulnerable. The Critical Raw Materials Act, the first pan-European legislation focused on raw material security, adopted a year ago, is a response to this dependency.