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EIT RawMaterials GmbH

EIT RawMaterials

EIT RawMaterials is a key European actor established in 2015 to advance Europe’s transition into a sustainable economy.

Lobbying Activity

Response to Advanced Materials Act

12 Jan 2026

EIT RawMaterials is Europes engine for advanced materials innovation. It drives the EUs twin green and digital transitions, strengthens industrial competitiveness, and ensures Europes leadership in sustainable manufacturing. As global demand for Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) surges and Europe remains 80-100% import dependent for several key resources, EIT RawMaterials provides the strategic platform to reduce vulnerabilities. Its initiatives directly advance the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) targets: boosting domestic production to 10%, expanding processing capacity to 40%, and achieving a 25% recycling rate by 2030. Through its extensive network and investment programmes, EIT RawMaterials scales strategic projects in mining, processing, and recycling, embedding circularity and sustainability at the core. To secure Industrial Sovereignty, EIT RawMaterials calls for a 4 billion investment under Framework Programme 10 (FP10) to reinforce Europes raw materials and advanced materials value chains. The forthcoming Advanced Materials Act should: Establish market incentives - price stabilisation tools, long term off-take agreements, and risk sharing mechanisms - to de-risk investment and accelerate industrial scaling. Foster international partnerships to diversify supply chains and secure access to raw materials, while positioning Europe as a global leader in sustainable technologies. Integrate digital infrastructures - federated materials data spaces and product passports, to ensure traceability, compliance, and circularity across advanced materials value chains. EIT RawMaterials strength lies in turning legislative ambition into delivery. With over 40 strategic projects under the CRMA and cross sector partnerships, it has proven its ability to operationalise EU policy objectives and accelerate time to market for critical technologies. Beyond funding, it builds a collaborative ecosystem that unites education, research, and industry, ensuring a skilled workforce and a robust innovation pipeline. Looking forward, EIT RawMaterials will be pivotal in achieving Europes climate neutrality and digital competitiveness. Its focus on circularity, recycling, and CRM substitution aligns with the EUs sustainability agenda, while investments in Materials Acceleration Platforms and technology infrastructures enable rapid scale up and commercialisation. By mobilising public and private capital, EIT RawMaterials creates a multiplier effect that strengthens supply chain resilience and fosters industrial autonomy. In a world marked by resource scarcity and geopolitical uncertainty, EIT RawMaterials gives Europe a decisive edge: securing essential raw materials, innovating in advanced materials, and leading in sustainable manufacturing. Continued support and investment will safeguard Europes industrial future and cement its role as a global leader in the transition to a green, digital, and circular economy. EIT RawMaterials attached submission makes recommendations for the Advanced Materials Act which advocate for measures to ensure: 1. Targeted substitution 2. Provision of higher performance materials 3. Designing for circularity to facilitate recycling 4. Fostering of skills and workforce development
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Response to Circular Economy Act

6 Nov 2025

EIT RawMaterials welcomes the Circular Economy Act (CEA) as the operational engine to meet the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) benchmarks by 2030 - 10% extraction, 40% processing, and 25% recycling of the EUs annual critical raw materials (CRM) needs - while reducing strategic dependencies on any single third country below 65%. Raw Materials are essential for delivering on competitiveness, industrial, digital, climate, and defence policies. Through our Strategic Impact Group Networks (SIGNs), we drive circularity and innovation across four critical sectors including rare earths & magnets, battery materials, green and circular metals, and mining and processing technologies. Through the European Raw Materials and Advanced Materials Academies, EIT RawMaterials will train over 200,000 learners by 2028. These platforms support lifelong learning and upskilling in circular economy practices, digital transformation, and sustainable innovation. Through the Critical Raw Materials Facility, we strike raw materials related collaboration with organisations in EU partner countries worldwide. However, significant barriers remain to be overcome, not least the EUs overreliance on the import of most raw materials, including critical raw materials. The demand for CRMs is skyrocketing across the EU and elsewhere. For example, according to the CRMA, by 2050, the need for rare earth metals and lithium, materials essential for emerging mobility and energy technologies, is expected to increase sevenfold and 20-fold, respectively. Long-established, global CRM supply chains are currently challenged by global instability and shifting geopolitics. Today, European industry struggles to secure access to CRMs and respective advanced materials. As such, we are in a weak position to control any sustainability-related aspects, i.e., with respect to financial costs, emissions, supply-chain disruption, and environmental and social standards. All these factors underscore the rationale for placing the Circular Economy at the heart of EU strategy. Legislation also needs to promote the functioning of markets and the emergence of new, viable circular economy-related business cases. Currently, it is often cheaper to import primary raw materials than to extract and process secondary ones in the EU. Furthermore, we still face barriers within the single market, especially when it comes to trading and processing end-of-life products and waste to regain raw materials. To deliver, the CEA must be underpinned by appropriate funding by the MFF and through its constituent pillars including the European Competitiveness Fund (ECF) and Horizon Europe. These instruments currently understate the foundational importance of CRMs and, particularly, Strategic Raw Materials (SRMs) and need to be developed to deliver an actionable pathway towards securing circular supplies of these materials. To succeed, the CEA must turn circular ambitions into bankable projects and enforce a Single Market for secondary materials. We recommend five pillars: 1. Secure EU feedstock and stop leakage of scrap and intermediates through coordinated DG TRADE/WSR action; 2. Close the WEEE collection gap and extend battery-style obligations to other CRM-rich products; 3. Create demand with ESPR/DPP-enabled specifications and green public procurement; 4. Link circularity to advanced materials so secondary inputs are upgraded to high-performance applications; and 5. Scale finance, skills, and governance via a Joint Implementation Board and an EU Circular Dashboard. The EUs CEA must prioritise responsible extraction, industrial circularity, establishing sustainable global partnerships, promoting world-class innovation, and delivering future-proof skills in the raw materials sector. EIT RawMaterials, through ERMA and the Raw & Advanced Materials Academies, is ready to deliver.
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Response to European Innovation Act

2 Oct 2025

Europe is in a unique position where it has achieved extraordinary success in world-leading R&D across Raw Materials sectors but still faces a significant challenge in converting early-stage technology developments into commercial products at scale. In a highly competitive, geopolitically challenging trade landscape, this presents the critical risk of Europe being at a significant disadvantage to its global competitors and rivals. To address this, the EU must: i) Integrate innovation and education policies as key pillars of EU industrial policy, fostering the rapid adoption of new technologies and products, and creating the skilled workforce needed to drive growth; ii) Become the trusted global leader in creating a level playing field for emerging industries, supporting fair, global competition and encouraging technological progress toward a sustainable and just future for all; iii) Invest in disruptive risk-financing to help accelerate innovation in the European market, with a strong focus on sectors where the EU faces critical market challenges, particularly the raw and advanced materials sectors. Concrete implementation actions include allocating 1 billion under the next Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF) and its constituent instruments to a dedicated, market-facing Public Private Partnership (PPP) creating a supportive ecosystem, from innovation to industrial scale adoption. Furthermore, the EU should introduce incentives for new European manufacturing, such as favourable tax regimes, lower energy costs, and capital incentives, all tied to innovation adoption. Bridging finance for technology pilot initiatives should be aligned with the principles of Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEIs), while minimising administrative requirements. As the world's largest and most active raw materials knowledge and innovation network, comprising over 300 partner organisations, EIT RawMaterials stands ready to support efforts to boost European innovation.
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Meeting with Aurel Ciobanu-Dordea (Director Environment)

1 Oct 2025 · Security of supply of raw materials, including critical raw materials (CRMs) for the EU, including through circularity measures

Meeting with Luis Planas Herrera (Cabinet of Commissioner Jessika Roswall)

10 Jul 2025 · Circular Economy

Meeting with Anne Fort (Cabinet of Commissioner Andrius Kubilius)

3 Jul 2025 · EIT RawMaterials for Defence and Aerospace

Meeting with Koen Doens (Director-General Directorate-General for International Partnerships) and

15 May 2025 · Exchange of views on critical raw materials.

Meeting with Alina-Stefania Ujupan (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu), Triinu Volmer (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu), Vanessa Debiais-Sainton (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu)

29 Apr 2025 · Meeting on EIT RawMaterials mission and the education portfolio

Meeting with Kurt Vandenberghe (Director-General Climate Action)

10 Apr 2025 · decarbonization and competitiveness efforts

Response to EU Start-up and Scale-up Strategy

14 Mar 2025

EIT RawMaterials appreciates the European Commission's initiative to develop a comprehensive European Startup and Scaleup Strategy and highlights the crucial role of Startups and Scaleups in strengthening the EUs competitiveness, particularly in the raw materials sector. European startups and scaleups in the raw materials sector face a combination of unique industry-specific hurdles and broader systemic challenges. The sector is capital-intensive, requiring significant upfront investment in infrastructure and technology, making it difficult to secure traditional forms of funding. In addition, these businesses often face long development timelines due to regulatory approvals, environmental assessments, and the complexities of scaling production. To address these challenges, the following actions are recommended: Enhance financial mechanisms such as the EU Innovation Fund, Horizon Europe, and InvestEU to specifically target raw materials startups. These programmes and future programmes including the proposed Framework Programme 10, and the Competitiveness Fund must provide grants tailored to the sectors long development timelines and inherent risks. Establish a Raw Materials Startup Fund to support early-stage companies that struggle to secure traditional VC funding. Such a fund would stimulate innovation, foster growth, and help companies scale in this capital-intensive sector. Introduce tax incentives for R&D investments in new extraction or recycling technologies to lower barriers to entry. Streamline permitting and regulatory processes to reduce delays. Regulatory frameworks should be improved to simplify environmental and social impact assessments, Member States should align national regulations with EU frameworks to ensure consistency and predictability, in line with strategic EU legislation like the Critical Raw Materials Act. The EUs Digitalisation Strategy could play a key role in facilitating regulatory processes for startups. Promote public-private partnerships that bring together governments, industry stakeholders, and startups to share financial risks, particularly addressing the capital intensity of the sector. Invest in workforce development to close the skills gap. The EU and Member States should develop education and training programmes focusing on the raw materials sector, including geology, engineering, and sustainability. Please find EIT RawMaterials' full response attached About EIT RawMaterials EIT RawMaterials is one of the worlds largest and most active raw materials knowledge and innovation network,comprising approximately 300 partnerorganisationsacross the entire raw materials value chain. EIT RawMaterials is supported by theEuropean Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union and wasestablishedin 2015 to advance Europes transition to a sustainable economy. Its mission is to secure a sustainable supply of raw materials for Europe, close material loops, and design innovative product solutions, with thegoalto position raw materials as a strategic strength for Europe through innovation, education, and entrepreneurship. Learn more atwww.eitrawmaterials.eu.
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Meeting with Alexandra Hild (Cabinet of Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva), Andreas Schwarz (Cabinet of Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva), Elena Martines (Cabinet of Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva)

12 Mar 2025 · Presentation of the structure, governance and operations of the EIC Raw Materials KIC.

Meeting with Felix Fernandez-Shaw (Director Directorate-General for International Partnerships) and Deutsche Bank AG and

12 Mar 2025 · Meeting of the South America Critical Raw Materials (CRM) Coalition of the Willing – Dialogue with private and public sector stakeholders, and financial institutions on sustainable critical raw materials value chains in Latin America.

Meeting with Eva Schultz (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu)

25 Feb 2025 · Invitation for EVP to the 7th edition of the Raw Materials Summit 2025, hosted by EIT RawMaterials from 14–15 May in Brussels

Meeting with Koen Doens (Director-General Directorate-General for International Partnerships)

12 Dec 2024 · Raw materials

Meeting with Koen Doens (Director-General Directorate-General for International Partnerships)

19 Jul 2024 · Raw Summit