The Critical Raw Materials Act must establish strong human rights and environmental safeguards for new and expansion projects in the EU, with respect for communities and traditional or custodial land holders front and centre, and it must ensure that strategic partnerships with non-EU countries have an equity dimension. Furthermore, a just transition must happen in parallel with a change in how the EU produces and consumes: this means urgently introducing systemic measures that decrease demand for virgin raw materials, including ambitious secondary raw materials targets and re-mining materials from legacy mining waste sites.

All raw materials, including those necessary for the green and digital transitions, are connected to risks of abuses to human rights...Such risks are not confined to mining operations outside of Europe...

The upcoming Critical Raw Materials Act must ensure that it guarantees the protection of human rights and the
planet through a three-pronged approach:
(i) Establishing strong human rights and environmental safeguards for new and expansion projects in the
European Union...

(ii) Ensuring mining companies respect human rights and the environment, in Europe and globally...

(iii) Ensuring strategic partnerships with non-EU countries have an equity dimension...