Solutions for CRitical Raw materials - a European Expert Network 2

Project Information

SCRREEN2

Grant agreement ID: 958211

DOI

10.3030/958211

Project closed

EC signature date 30 September 2020

Start date 1 November 2020

End date 31 December 2023

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Climate action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials

Total cost

€ 2 999 875,00

EU contribution

€ 2 999 875,00

Coordinated by

COMMISSARIAT A L ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES
France

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SCRREEN2 (Solutions for CRitical Raw materials - a European Expert Network 2)

Reporting period: 2022-05-01 to 2023-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

In order to secure the sustainable access to primary and secondary raw materials and particularly Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) in the EU, there is a need for an expert advice to better understand the value chains of the raw materials screened in the CRMs assessment. There is also the need for foresight studies in order to provide guidelines for future R&D&I actions. Making this information freely available, through SCRREEN2 knowledge database and the EC Raw Materials Information System RMIS, will support decision-making at the EU level on the CRM strategies.
In the context of energy, mobility and digital transitions, and even more since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine crisis, the sovereignty and resilience of the EU on raw materials supply is part of political, economical and societal debates. Constantly develop the understanding of the raw materials value chains, in particular CRM, and the geopolitical movements which may strenghten the european vulnerabilities, is key to set up actions aiming at reducing EU dependence. SCREEN2 supports in that sense the objectives set by the CRM Act.
It also represents a relevant mean for supporting the industrial sectors in carrying out stress tests at the level of value chains (article 19) by the Commission and the Member States, and at the level of certain large companies (article 23).
In line with the achievements of SCRREEN, SCRREEN2 aims at expanding its expert network in order to cover all the raw materials screened in the CRM 2023 assessment. The work was initiated in 2019 to support the EC and SCRREEN network gathers today experts on primary and secondary resources: production, including exploration, mining, processing, recycling and refining; substitution of CRM; raw materials markets; prospective for demand and supply; materials flows; socio-economic analysis. The network also covers several strategic value chains and end-use sectors, including batteries, e-mobility, renewable energy, electronics, defence and aerospace.
Based on the experts network and the systemic analysis of the value chains, SCRREEN2 overall objective is to provide up-to-date information to support the European Commission in decision-making for strengthening the materials value chains and driving R&D&I further actions. For this purpose, it relies on the production of factsheets dedicated to each CRM foresight reports. These productions, published and accessible to all on SCRREEN2 website, intend to be a robust and insightful tool for the industries and generally all stakeholders involved or facing issues related to critical raw materials.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Firstly, SCRREEN2 primary achievement relies in updating 60 factsheets during the whole project, including 29 during the second period. The work to deliver the factsheets was carried out based on a strong collaboration with DG-GROW and regular interactions to redefine the level of required information, the frame of the factsheets and the figures harmonization guidelines.

Secondly, SCREEN2 contributed to expand the expert’s database and the knowledge database about CRM.
The contents of the factsheets are based on data provided by DG-GROW and by individual experts and organizations, which intends to share knowledge, challenge and debate key information and insights about the value chain. This analysis results not only in the factsheets production but also in the development of SCRREEN2 knowledge database and SCRREEN expert database. These two databases are updated through an online database tool.
More than 180 experts are currently listed in the database and more than 200 references/documents are accessible, as references listed in the updated factsheets and/or given by the experts during workhsops or interviews.

Strengthening and developing the EU expert network is another major achievement of SCRREEN2. In order to animate this network, were organized during SCRREEN2 several workshops. During the second period, a Symposium was organized in Ljubljana. Prior, two dedicated workhsops were organised in October 2021 and March 2022.

The experts are evaluated upon their contribution in order to determine if their insights could bring to the project according to their field of expertise.

Thirdly, SCRREEN2 produced several high-level foresight studies. Along the project, WP7 was reorganized (suppression of 2 deliverables on policy).

Finally, SCRREEN2 developed and launched simultaneously two communication campaigns aiming at raising awareness of CRM issues and how they relate to the UN’s SDG goals. These campaigns were adressed towards professionnal stakeholders and towards the general public. A series of compelling messages and visuals were distributed via a variety of channels (dedicated webpage on the website, SCRREEN social media accounts, newsflashes and newsletters, a video, and a quiz) in 6 languages.

SCRREEN2 has brought its support to DG-GROW by organising the first CRM validation workshop for the 2023 list. On the first period, a big part of the organisation of the workshop was done (the workshop was help from May 31st to June 3rd in Brussels).

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

In addition to the permanent support to the European Commission and DG-GROW on the criticality assessment, SCRREEN2 20 partner organizations have been committed to provide a systemic understanding of the materials value chains, their embedded impacts on European industries, societies or ecosystems, and the levers and risks defining Europe vulnerabilities and resilience ability.

SCRREEN2 contributed to:
- achieving the objectives and the implementation of both the Raw Materials Initiative (RMI) and the EIP on Raw Materials, in particular in terms of securing the supply of critical raw materials (CRMs);
- better informed and more effective decision-making by the EU and Member States policy makers and the producers and users of raw materials regarding the supply and demand of raw materials and the associated environmental and social aspects.
- improved awareness of society across the EU about importance of the critical raw materials and other relevant materials for strategic value chains in support of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the EU;
- in the longer-term improved diversification of CRMs supply to the EU.


More specifically, could be emphasized:
- SCRREEN2 has a performant database tool capitalizing on experts, data and analysis. DG-GROW has direct access to this database and can identify experts or access documents.
SCRREEN has also contributed to the on-going criticality assessment by developing a specific relational database for CRM, used bay DG-GROW and DG-GROW experts, as well as SCRREEN consortium. This relational database contains the specific information useful the criticality assessment and will ease the calculation phase.
thanks to the communication campaign SCRREEN contributes to raise the awareness of the public of the importance of the RM in our every day life and how dependant we are for abroad on this. it also points out solutions/options to reduce this dependence, which its nowadays even more crucial since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

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