The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced that the EC intends to place greater emphasis on developing a circular economy in the EU. “We are still sending vast amounts of valuable waste back to China,” she said, adding that the EU needs to start recovering critical raw materials from them.

Von der Leyen participated in the European Industry Summit in Antwerp on Wednesday, where she discussed some of the assumptions of the Clean Industrial Plan. This is a new EC strategy that aims to enable the Union to compete with the USA and China. It includes acquiring more than 100 billion euros to support “clean production in the EU.”

The President of the EC stated that the Commission does not intend to abandon the goals of the European Green Deal, whose main assumption is to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. “We are on track to achieve a 55% emission reduction target by 2030,” she said.

Addressing entrepreneurs, she admitted that too many obstacles stand in their way, including high energy prices and excessive regulatory burdens.

“Production costs have increased, especially in energy-intensive industries. (…) Some investments have moved to other regions. We need to reverse this trend. This is the main goal of the Clean Industrial Plan,” she emphasized. She announced that the EU wants to invest more than ever in innovation. The challenge in this area, as she added, is access to financing, and the EU must mobilize significantly more private and public investments.

Von der Leyen added that the EC will also introduce a new framework for state aid. “Public aid for decarbonization and clean technologies will be approved faster and will last longer to provide greater predictability and accelerate innovation,” she said.

The President of the EC also announced that Brussels will focus on one innovative sector – the circular economy. Its operation is based on reducing the use of raw materials in the production process and limiting waste.

“Europe has a clear pioneering advantage here. One-third of all companies (in the world – PAP) involved in circular technologies are European companies. More than 50% of our steel, iron, zinc, or platinum comes from scrap. This covers over 25% of European consumption. However, we need to act faster and better. For example, China controls 80% of the world’s processing capacity in battery recycling. We are still sending vast amounts of valuable waste back to China. Instead, decommissioned batteries could provide almost 15% of the lithium we need,” von der Leyen stated.

She announced that she would present a draft of new regulations concerning the circular economy.

The European Commission, in the Clean Industrial Plan, proposes, among other things, the creation of a European critical raw materials center to jointly purchase key metals in the EU. This should lower their prices. (27.02.2025)