Adopting more climate-friendly sourcing practices for raw materials could significantly reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the European Union and globally, the European Environment Agency (EEA) said in a report published on Monday 30 August.
This report assesses the potential for reducing emissions from the extraction and processing of certain raw materials widely consumed in the EU (copper, iron, gold, limestone, aluminium, wood, fertilisers, salt, etc.), which are associated with significant levels of GHG emissions in their production and which originate both within and outside the EU.
It highlights that the extraction and processing of non-energy and non-agricultural raw materials - although accounting for only a small proportion of all natural resources consumed in the EU - is responsible for about 18% of the total GHG emissions associated with the consumption of all EU goods and services.
A figure which, according to the EEA, could be considerably reduced by adopting “climate-friendly sourcing practices”, i.e. “a set of requirements that final consumers of raw materials can impose on their suppliers with the aim of reducing the GHG emissions. linked to extracting and processing the raw material” (adoption of life-cycle thinking, use of more resource and energy efficient practices, increased use of secondary raw materials etc.).
According to its report, such practices could reduce GHG emissions by an order of magnitude of at least 10% for a number of processes involved in the extraction of raw materials.
In order to implement these practices, the EU has certain policy levers at its disposal, such as the inclusion of procurement requirements in public procurement and provisions in trade agreements, the EEA further stresses.
See the report: https://bit.ly/38lTJZc (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)