Some 90 experts from across Europe met on 15 March for a workshop organised under the EDA-managed Incubation Forum for Circular Economy in European Defence (IF CEED) to discuss the crucial question of Europe’s dependency on critical raw materials that are relevant to defence.
The workshop built on the consolidated work of EDA’s Materials CapTech to discuss and assess how circularity can contribute to reducing those dependencies. The event gathered representatives from Member States’ Ministries of Defence, the defence industry, research institutes and centres, foundations and universities. Specific contributions were also made by the European Commission’s DG DEFIS and DG GROW as well as the European Investment Bank (EIB).
Participants discussed circularity principles and defence supply chain specificities, and addressed concrete ideas, for instance how critical raw materials could be recycled from Li-ion batteries and superalloys, or how alternative coatings could be used in the production of specific parts of defence equipment. The idea is that the IF CEED’s joint discussions and activities, coupled with the identification of possible funding and financing sources, will help trigger concrete collaborative projects with a clear and coherent roadmap.
The Incubation Forum for Circular Economy in European Defence (IF CEED) is co-funded by the European Union (under the LIFE programme) and the Luxembourg’s Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs - Directorate of Defence.