Circularity as the foundation to Europe’s strategic competitiveness
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Europe is at a crossroads. Under a fossil-fuel based model, the EU imports 58% of its energy needs, leaving it exposed to repeated supply and price shocks [1]. The obvious response is to accelerate the transition to renewable energy, which is both cheaper and faster to deploy. It also has a strategic opportunity to significantly reduce its future dependence on critical minerals by investing in circularity today.

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Investing in circularity is therefore not a side issue, but a competitiveness strategy. By designing products for disassembly, reuse and recycling, Europe can reduce dependency on newly mined imports while building industries that generate jobs, innovation and intellectual property at home. The transition to a low-carbon, circular, and resource-efficient economy could generate 1.2 million new jobs in the EU by 20303.

Policy is starting to recognise this. The EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) sets a binding target that domestic recycling provides at least one quarter of the block’s annual consumption of strategic raw materials. Recycling and recovery plants can qualify as strategic projects, benefitting from streamlined permitting and access to finance. National funds and the ResourceEU action plan aim to address remaining bottlenecks.

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