As the coordinator of the EU funded CIRAN project (CrItical RAw materials extraction in enviroNmentally protected areas), INTRAW convened a session at the 37th International Geological Congress in Busan, Korea.
INTRAW Secretary General Vitor Correia, presented the CIRAN project’s latest findings in this session entitled “Navigating the Path to the Green Transition: Balancing Resource Extraction and Environmental Stewardship”, addressing the delicate balance between obtaining raw materials necessary for the global green transition and preserving natural values.
Christopher Keane from the American Geosciences Institute, a founding member of INTRAW, delivered the keynote speech, presenting “2050 Strategic Scenarios for the Global Raw Materials Landscape”. He emphasised that the green transition is an immediate imperative, with mineral supply chain development operating on a decadal timescale. He stressed that political, economic, social, and technological factors are tightly coupled with geoscience in this context.
Subsequent presentations by David Manning from Newcastle University and Zoe Shipton from the University of Strathclyde highlighted the potentially crucial role of crushed rocks in removing CO2 from the atmosphere through Enhanced Rock Weathering, thus mitigating climate change effects.
Volker Steinbach of the German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources underscored that primary raw material production must provide most of the metals for low-carbon technologies, at least for the coming decade. He noted that secondary raw material supply alone cannot meet future demand. Steinbach emphasised the importance of considering both upstream and end-of-life activities of low-carbon technologies to ensure sustainable and responsible mining practices and optimal product recycling.
In his presentation, Vitor Correia shared CIRAN’s most recent findings and highlighted that the European Commission is taking proactive steps to overcome its dependency on mineral imports by diversifying trading partners and extracting critical raw materials domestically. However, this strategy faces two major challenges: growing international competition for mineral raw materials and intense domestic public opposition to mining. He concluded by stating that to make mining acceptable in Europe, it is crucial to develop new economic models that value comprehensive resource extraction, coupled with new social contracts that empower citizens and communities.