“Innovation and recycling are key for Europe’s materials transition”

As the world is transitioning to green energy, demand for critical raw materials that are vital to this transition is soaring. Resources such as copper and nickel are essential for technologies like electric vehicles and battery storage. However, as global competition intensifies, Europe faces growing concerns about the availability of these minerals and metals, primarily due to its dependence on imports from a few countries outside Europe.

Ronald Wuijster, CEO of APG Asset Management, and Antony Slotboom, Access to Finance Director at EIT RawMaterials, explore these complexities, diving into topics such as innovation, recycling, and the mining sector’s need for a social license to operate.

Innovation and recycling are key

As Europe faces a shortage of raw materials, innovation is crucial in reducing Europe’s dependence on external sources. “Through innovation, you can change the need for certain metals and make other materials critical,” says Antony.

Another key factor is recycling. “We need to see products that come into Europe, such as electric cars or solar panels, as a mining opportunity. At their end of life, we need to keep them in Europe and recycle the materials they contain.”

Building trust: gaining a social license to operate

In addition to innovation and recycling, Antony also sees select opportunities for mining in Europa. However, a successful mining operation relies on the trust and support of local communities, he says. “In Europe, where environmental awareness and social concerns are particularly strong, obtaining a "social license to operate" is essential. This license is key to long-term government support. You only achieve continuity if you have the community’s trust.”

To gain this trust, EIT RawMaterials invests in education. “It starts with understanding,” Antony underscores. By informing citizens and policymakers about the necessity and benefits of sustainable mining, the organization aims to create a foundation of support for projects critical to the energy transition.

Here too, innovation can help. Antony gives an example: narrow-vein robotics, a technology enabling the extraction of platinum from small, high-concentration veins in South Africa. “The narrower the vein, the higher the concentration,” Antony explains. This technology reduces risks for miners. Similarly, drones and sensors are being used to make sure that the water flowing away from the mine is not contaminated, while AI is used in the exploration phase to ensure that only areas with the highest material concentrations are mined.

Financing: the role of pension fund investors

All this requires huge amounts of money. Here lies an opportunity for institutional investors, Antony suggests. This could be in early-stage innovative start-ups, the scale-up phase or when projects go into production. He particularly sees attractive opportunities on the recycling side.

He applauds financing initiatives such as national raw materials funds in France, Germany, Italy and Ireland aimed at securing offtake of particular raw materials for their national industries and wider Europe as well. Similarly, he also advocates for a large public-private European investment fund.

ESG standards: it starts with transparency

Increasing the sustainability of materials sourcing - and making that profitable -  starts with openness, with transparency. Here too, there is a role for innovation. “There are start-ups focusing on the sourcing of a metal, its whole lifecycle and whether or not the ESG standards are in line with UNFC,” Antony explains. “It would be nice to have a sticker on your car that says ‘This car was produced with metals that meet minimum ESG standards’.”

It’s also about a global level playing field. “Can a sustainable mine in Norway compete on price with a mine that doesn’t have the expenses to adhere to these standards? Certainly not if it's not clear that, for example, one car was sourced responsibly and the other one wasn’t. If they perform equally well, people will buy the cheaper one. Transparency on the true costs of both cars will make people more aware of what they’re buying.”

Europe’s blueprint for the future

EIT RawMaterials’ mission is to make Europe more self-sufficient in critical materials. To achieve this, Antony sees four conditions:

1. a supportive capital market, both equity and debt
2. educational programs to attract the talent that will innovate
3. a vibrant network fostering collaboration between universities, research and technology institutions and companies
4. Europe investing more actively in securing its raw materials.

This mission aligns perfectly with the EU’s broader circular economy strategy. “Europe has the resources to lead,” Antony asserts, “and awareness is there, but this requires a huge amount of money.” To attract financing, rebranding the materials sector as an innovative, responsible pillar of Europe’s future is essential for success.