JRC Technical report Towards more sustainable management of material resources in Europe

29 Nov 2022

Philip Nuss, Elina Pohjalainen, John Bacher, Shahrzad Manoochehri, Simone Manfredi, Peder Jensen

As a result of a 2-year cooperation between the European Environment Agency (EEA) and the EC Joint Research Centre (JRC) in relation to compiling knowledge around the security and sustainability of raw materials, a joint publication has recently been released.

Relevant JRC and EEA knowledge outputs are summarized both at EU-level and in a pilot investigation for four EIONET countries (i.e., Germany, Spain, Ireland, and Portugal), and ideas for monitoring the performance of the EU raw materials situation are presented. Using a country-questionnaire, data and knowledge available at national level are highlighted and mapped.

Results from this study highlight that a wide range of high-quality data and information are already available to monitor the raw materials situation of individual EU countries. EIONET-countries hold detailed information with regard to: (1) mining, supply, and trade, (2) investments and the regulatory (mining) framework, (3) indicators and data about environmental, social and governance, and circular economy/resource efficiency aspects, and (4) pilot studies on emerging topics (e.g., environmental criticality or material stocks).

Such information could be taken up by the RMIS in specific sections of the “country profiles” or dedicated tiles such as on “Member state legislation” or the “RMIS knowledge gateway”.

A dedicated dashboard has been created to highlight aspects at EU member state level for the thematic areas of security of supply, material & resource efficiency, priority value chains, environmental sustainability, and social sustainability (responsible sourcing) across the EU-27 countries.

A follow up collaboration project is foreseen as part of the 2023 work programme.

Check out here the report, and the indicators’ dashboard.