Nordic Forum on raw materials: EU Commissioner Roswall’s speech

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you for inviting me to join you here in Oslo today. I would like to use our time together to share my vision for how we – politics and the mineral industry – can work together to make Europe more clean, more competitive, and more resilient. This discussion could not have come at a more important moment in time. We have seen fundamental geopolitical shifts in the past weeks. And the multilateral world order has changed for good.

Last Friday, EU leaders decided to rearm Europe. A first in 80 years’ time. These are transformative changes of the world we are living in. And you are right at the centre of these new developments. Because in this new environment, global competition for resources will no doubt increase. For access to water, steel, energy, and technology. But also to critical raw materials.

After all, these are the resources we need to arm ourselves, to provide security, and to shape our competitiveness. Access to raw materials also defines the speed at which we can decarbonise our economies and compete with a clean footprint.

So one thing is clear: without raw materials, we cannot find solutions to the challenges ahead. To make things more complicated, many of these resources are hard to get by, because they are rare by nature or hard to mine. And geographical concentration of supply is a source of geopolitical tension.

We also know that the extraction and processing of minerals is responsible for significant greenhouse gas emissions. This puts our environment under pressure. It threatens our collective security. And it means we must work twice as hard to get our economy into shape so that Europe can continue to thrive as a clean economic powerhouse.

More than ever, we have to join forces with like-minded partners.  No-one stands to gain from a war on resources.

So let’s look at solutions.

Two weeks ago, the Commission presented the Clean Industrial Deal. This is our business plan for Europe and our roadmap for turbo-charging our competitiveness and our economy. It responds to a loud and clear call from industries across Europe. What is particularly important to me is that circularity is put at the heart of the Clean Industrial Deal. We want to make the EU the world leader in the circular economy by 2030.

Why is circularity so important? Some of the figures speak for themselves. Every year we use 8 billion tons of raw materials in Europe. Much of it comes from abroad. Only a fraction, 12 percent, comes from recycling. And critical raw materials are the most obvious example. The EU’s demand is expected to triple in the next years. At the same time, less than 1 percent of our critical raw materials come from recycling.

Under any circumstances, this competition for resources would be bad news for our planet. But in the current circumstances, this is bad news also for our resilience and our security.

Therefore, we need to move away from linear production and keep the value in our own economy for as long as possible. Our starting position is not bad.  We have 50 years of experience with waste legislation. And progress across the block is huge compared to most other countries in the world.

But we also have to recognise that we are not there yet. The reality is that progress has stagnated in recent years. This is a big challenge. But I believe that it is possible to change.

After all, if we cannot make this change at this critical point in time, then when can we do it?

But to get there, we need a change of mindset. As policy makers. As producers. As consumers. I really want to emphasise this change of mindset. Because let’s be honest. Despite 50 years of waste legislation, policies and recycling, we have not managed to transform our linear model – which is wasteful by design – into a circular model.

So how can we get it right this time?

In a world where virgin materials are cheaper than reused and recycled ones, it is very difficult to create the business case we need. So we have to get the economics rights.

In terms of what we can do to raise to this challenge, I have four points in mind:

My first point is that we must find ways to stimulate higher demand for circular products and secondary raw materials. I believe that there is no ‘one size fits all’ here. We need to look at products and sectors, one by one, to identify the challenges.

My second point is about supply. We need to analyse all our waste streams to see where we have untapped potential. For example e-waste, which is the fastest growing source of waste. We have already started doing this for batteries. But there are many reasons for the current supply bottlenecks, and our policies must reflect that. Investing in new reuse- recycling- and extraction technologies could be one part of the answer. We also need to ensure that the workforce has the right skills. That is why I was happy that circularity was mentioned in the Union of Skills, the EU strategy adopted last week. There is good cooperation between the Nordic countries on this already, and I believe we can export some of your best practises.

My third point is to create a business-friendly regulatory framework that promotes circularity. Simplification and reduction of regulatory burden wherever we can, are key.

And of course – and this is my fourth point – we must promote investments in circularity.  Developing and investing in new technologies, and the scaling up of existing ones, are key here.

All these workstreams will come together in our Circular Economy Act, planned for 2026. And I am keen on getting your input for this.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Improving circularity is crucial. But it cannot be our only focus.

We also need to strengthen our mineral supply chains more broadly. It was always common sense to do that. But now it is also a matter of Europe’s security.

We therefore need to do two things in parallel: strengthen our own capacity. And work with likeminded partners.

So first, we need to extract and process more raw materials at home, in a sustainable way. In this way we can become more resilient and more competitive, while preserving our high environmental standards. As I often say, there is no contradiction between high standards and competitiveness. These are two sides of the same coin.

So we have to make the best use of our domestic potential. In the Critical Raw Materials Act from 2024, we took an innovative approach by setting a benchmark for domestic extraction of 10 percent of the EU’s consumption of strategic raw materials.

Projects also have to benefit from faster permitting. Granting permits for strategic extraction projects should not take longer than 27 months. Member States have by now established single points of contact for permitting, which will also speed up decisions.

And second, remember that we have reliable and strong partners in the world. Some of them are our allies since a long time and geographically very close, such as Norway. But we also need to look further new cooperation partners. With the Commission colleagues, we went to India recently to meet with the Indian government. These meetings were very constructive.

We also have Strategic Partnerships through the Global Gateway. This is a strong foundation to build on.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am fully aware that policymakers cannot just tell businesses to “speed up” or “go circular”. It is our role to give policy steer and ensure that we have an enabling regulatory ecosystem.

But we need to let businesses develop their own solutions, based on their insights, experience and expertise.

And that is why this summit is so important. We need to foster dialogue, solutions and innovation together. In the EU but also regionally, like here in the Nordics.

I want to end with a clear call for action. The world around us is changing as we speak. Old certainties are replaced by new realities.

In these times of uncertainty, people will look at us policymakers for stability. But they will also look for other things that bind us together. Your industry has a unique role to play here. Many of your companies have a long history of deep connections to the communities in which you operate. They are part of our society.

This makes it so important that we stay united and work together in Europe.

For our competitiveness. For our resilience. For our security.

Let’s collectively raise to the challenge of the moment.

Thank you. Tack.

Source – EU Commission