CIRAN Participates in the 2024 Raw Materials Week in Brussels

From the 9th until the 13th of December 2024, CIRAN proudly participated in another edition of the Raw Materials Week held at the Le Plaza Hotel Brussels. Organised by the European Commission – Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG Growth). The Raw Materials Week is the largest policy event on raw materials, yearly organised since 2016. It attracted over 1,000 participants from industry, administration, civil society, research and academia to discuss the future of raw materials in Europe.

CIRAN’s contribution to the UNFC and UNRMS

The CIRAN Project is proud to have been featured at the 7th Event on the United Nations Framework Classification for Resources (UNFC) and the United Nations Resource Management System (UNRMS), held on the 10th of December 2024 within the programme of the EU Raw Materials Week 2024.

The Environmental Specialist and Project Manager from our Consortium partner organization Proman Consulting, Minja Marijanski, was invited by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) – Sustainable Energy to present the project’s work, emphasising our commitment to balancing sustainable raw materials’ extraction with the protection of Natura 2000 and other environmentally sensitive areas in Europe.

The event’s Technical Session brought together leading experts from across Europe to advance the application of the UNFC and explore innovative approaches to sustainable resource management.

The CIRAN project presentation highlighted:

• The importance of sustainable extraction practices in and around protected areas.

• How CIRAN contributes to developing solutions that consider the balance between both environmental protection and raw materials demand.

• The critical role of stakeholder engagement and interdisciplinary collaboration in achieving project goals.

Co-organised by UNECE, DG GROW, EuroGeoSurveys, and Horizon Europe projects Geological Service for Europe (GSEU) and FutuRAM, the session focused on the role of UNFC in aligning resource classification with the EU Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) and driving forward progress in Horizon Europe projects.

Side Event: “Supporting the CRMA – Research projects in the EU”

The CIRAN project is delighted to have been invited by the Horizon Europe project START to speak at the Side Event to the RMW 2024 entited “Supporting the Critical Raw Materials Act: Research projects in the European Union”. The workshop, held in the Hitchcock Auditorium of the Hotel Marivaux in Brussels, on the 10th of December, gathered around 50 interested participants from diverse sectors, merging academia and research with industry and policymaking.

After an opening speech by the European Commission – Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA), CIRAN coordinator Eberhard Falck (INTRAW) shared the floor with the other seven guest speakers from different EU-funded projects:

• START – Filipe Neves (LNEG, Portugal)
• GSEU – Francesco Pizzocolo (The Geological Service for Europe)
• FutuRaM – Gorazd Zibret (Geological Survey of Slovenia)
• CRM-Geothermal – Katrin Kieling (Helmholtz-Centre Potsdam)
• SUPREEMO – Arne-Petter Ratvik (SINTEF)
• REESOURCE – Carlos Escudero (Institute for Energy Technology)
• REPTis – Artem Yarovinsky (VELTA LLC)

The insightful conversation offered various insights into the challenges related to CRMs addressed by the different projects, highlighting where our work will contribute to mitigating some of the hurdles that the European industry and society are currently facing to align raw materials’ needs with sustainability standards to meet green transition and digitalisation objectives. In this regard, it highlighted the importance of cross-projects’ cooperation to foster innovation and research developments.

Lastly, within the framework of the EU Raw Materials Week 2024, the 11th Annual High Level Conference on Raw Materials was celebrated, with a very insightful panel on raw material supply chains for the EU battery industry. The recording of the session can be found below.

CIRAN is proud to be part of these meaningful discussions, contributing to the global dialogue on Critical Raw Materials and sustainability. Events like the EU Raw Materials Week reinforce the importance of innovation, collaboration, and forward-thinking approaches in navigating the challenges of natural resource management, circularity, and sustainable lifestyles. Looking forward to participating in RMW 2025!

For more information about the CIRAN project and to stay updated on our progress, please visit our Project & Results pages and Subscribe to our Newsletter.

To stay up to date, follow CIRAN on Social Media!