Critical Raw Materials and Resource Supply Chains: Tensions and Trade-offs

December 03, 2024, 15:15 / 16:30

This panel will ask: What can the EU do to promote responsible mining in the Arctic? What is the EU willing to invest to get the CRM it needs? With the Arctic warming up to seven percent faster than the rest of the planet, nowhere else is the need to address climate change more urgently. The key to mitigating its effects lies in the energy transition, which is inextricably linked to the mining of critical raw materials. The European Arctic offers enormous potential for mining CRMs, confirmed most recently by the new rare earths deposit adjacent to the existing Kiruna mine in northern Sweden. The European Arctic is also home to the Saami, Europe’s only indigenous peoples, a non-indigenous rural population that struggles with out-migration and extraordinary natural landscapes important for mitigating climate change while also providing business opportunities in tourism and forestry. Europe has long been at the vanguard of the sustainability movement and European policy-makers insist it can remain so as mining can and will be done responsibly. But what is responsible mining in the European context and can mining be responsible if there are communities in opposition? Who wins and who loses? And should those most directly affected have the right to say no?