Tag: Raw materials

The British government, influenced by mining company Rio Tinto, attempted to undermine an EU law that aims to bring greater transparency to the oil, gas, mining and logging sectors despite the government's public declarations that it supports more disclosure, the European lawmaker who led the negotiations said on Wednesday (10 April).

A top Chinese diplomat on Tuesday (19 March) defended his country’s efforts to curb exports of rare earth metals and other vital industrial raw materials to Europe, saying extensive mining had caused environmental problems.

Congolese rebels are plundering the country’s natural resources to finance guns and materiel, but the EU remains powerless to compel companies to disclose whether they are buying vital minerals supplied by armed groups in Congo and other conflict states.

Access to natural resources in Europe through 2040 will depend on economic, political and technological factors that are hard to predict. Therefore, the policy approach from the EU has to be broader and more flexible, according to a new EU-funded research project.

Chinese President Hu Jintao's three-day visit to Denmark may ostensibly have been about signing billions worth of business deals, but a stake in Greenland's huge mineral wealth may have been the elephant in the room.

The EU has established resource efficiency as one of its seven flagship initiatives for the 2020 agenda, and its roadmap is supported by many programmes and initiatives on the ground. Yet, it is a tiger without teeth, claims the latest report by the Transatlantic Academy, a research institution that aims to create common approaches for the long-term challenges faced by Europe and North America.

Investing in sustainable industries is a win-win situation that will boost the much-needed growth in the EU while creating a sustainable and eco-friendly environment, writes Antonio Tajani, commissioner for industry and Entrepreneurship.

China lost an appeal at the World Trade Organisation on Monday (30 January) in a case about its export restrictions of raw materials. The WTO's final ruling in the case was welcomed by the EU's trade chief and business leaders in Europe.

Recycling less than 1% of high tech metals, Europe has no moral justification to blame the Chinese for restricting their exports of rare earths, Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker from the United Nations Environment Programme argued in an interview with EurActiv.com.

The European Union should establish specific decision-making mechanisms to deal with raw materials issues and coordinate action between member states, the European Parliament said yesterday (13 September).

China yesterday (24 August) vowed to appeal a recent World Trade Organisation ruling against its raw materials export policy, a case that could threaten Beijing's handling of rare earths.

Vast deposits of rare earth minerals, crucial in making high-tech electronics products, have been found on the floor of the Pacific Ocean and can be readily extracted, Japanese scientists said yesterday (4 July).

Recycling has become a central part of the EU's climate change strategy by helping the bloc to tackle the nearly three billion tonnes of waste produced by Europe annually, much of which enters the atmosphere in the form of CO2 and methane emissions from landfill sites and incineration plants.

The huge natural resources contained in the Barents region could be play a key role in helping to meet Europe's growing demand for raw materials, stakeholders stress, calling for increased cooperation between the EU and the region.

To combat illegal exploitation of conflict minerals in Africa, the European Commission is expected to table by November a proposal for an EU law asking large companies to reveal their oil and mining activities to shareholders.

Speculation on commodity markets and excessive concentration in the mining industry is hampering companies' access to resources at competitive prices, in turn affecting economic growth and prompting EU policymakers into action.

While Europe tries to ensure undistorted access to raw materials for its industries, commercial conflicts over export restrictions are a growing area of tension in international trade, with developing countries defending their right to curtail global access to their resources in support of domestic economic development.

The risk of a raw materials supply shortage should be seen as an opportunity to boost research into substitution and recycling technologies to reduce Europe's import dependency. EurActiv spoke with leading businesses and NGOs on how to create a competitive recycling market.

A special group was set in the European Parliament up last month to collect first hand information on the issues affecting raw material prices and availability. The group's chair, German MEP Karl-Heinz Florenz (European People's Party), told EurActiv about his objectives.

French hopes for tough curbs on commodities speculation to tame soaring food prices look set to be thwarted as leading producer nations line up to oppose market interference.

In a last ditch effort, France has managed to beef up an EU proposal on commodities and raw materials which tries to make a link between speculation in financial markets and volatile commodity markets, EurActiv has learned. 

The European Commission is preparing plans that would see European firms build infrastructure in metal-rich African nations in exchange for access to key raw materials there, marking the EU's latest effort to counter China's dominance on the continent.

Green public procurement, eco-labelling and producer responsibility were listed among possible policy options to reduce raw materials consumption in the manufacturing sector, amid growing pressure to decouple economic growth from rising natural resource use.

China's measures to control rare earth exports are geared to "sustainable" exploitation of the minerals, Premier Wen Jiabao said in Europe, while pledging not to impose a complete ban on exports.