04/07/23
In March 2023, the European Commission published its proposal for a Regulation on Critical Raw Materials (‘CRMA’). Our new report exposes the concerning extent to which the Commission’s proposal grants the lobbying wish-list of the mining industry and metals- and minerals-using industries.
Our main findings:
- Mining companies, metals- and minerals-using companies and their lobby groups have spent more than €21 million a year lobbying, hosted numerous sponsored events and racked up more than two meetings a week with the Commission’s top-level decision-makers
- The Commission presented both the framing of its CRM consultations’ questions and their results in a way that is skewed in favour of industry, and relegated the core issue of demand reduction to a distant annex
- Industry lobbying has relied heavily on an industry-commissioned study that doesn’t model demand reduction – even though it acknowledges what a difference this would make to how much EU mining is needed
- Strategic Projects with ‘overriding public interest’ were a repeated industry demand, now present in the Commission’s proposal and representing a real risk to environmental safeguards
- The inclusion of voluntary industry certification in lieu of legally binding due diligence responsibilities was another repeated industry demand that was incorporated into the Commission’s proposal, worryingly letting industry self-regulate
Read all the evidence that the CRMA in its current form is a clear example of corporate capture – and our recommendations of making it fair and sustainable instead!
