Last month, the European Commission published a Raw Materials Scoreboard that assesses the status of the EU’s raw material sector, pinpoints the challenges and opportunities linked to it and highlights the importance of raw materials to the EU economy, including to its jobs and growth. The EU economy requires a wide variety of raw materials and not all of them are naturally available in Europe. The EU is highly dependent on imports of certain raw materials, including metals, certain minerals and natural rubber. The rising demand for raw materials, the concentration of the world’s supply and global price volatility have significant consequences for the EU’s security of supply. As mentioned at the EuCheMS-European Parliament Workshop on raw materials, an answer to this issue will surely include the creation of innovative eco-friendly substitute materials by chemistry.
Source: https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/