The rising demand and limited supply of critical raw materials (CRMs) impair the ability to rapidly adopt technological change toward green and sustainable technologies, which directly affect the resilience of EU industries seeking to achieve Green Deal objectives for an equitable, zero-emission, and digitalized Europe. In response to these challenges, the European Commission aims to minimize the loss of secondary raw materials (SRM) and optimize their reuse across value chains. CE-RISE will develop and pilot an integrated framework and an ensuing resource information system to identify optimal solutions for the effective reuse, recovery, and/or recycling of materials by (a) defining a set of criteria (RE criteria) to evaluate the extent to which products and embedded components can be reused, repaired, refurbished and/or recycled; (b) incorporating information on RE criteria and material composition of products into the Digital product passport (DPP) to enable traceability of materials in the supply chain; (c) integrating DPP with information on the environmental footprint of products (PEF), socio-economic and environmental (SEE) impacts of RE processes; (d) enabling confidential and anonymized information sharing among actors throughout value chains; (e) providing open-access software application to disseminate information on the assessment of RE criteria, PEF and SEE impacts of products to all stakeholders including consumers and policymakers. The results will be piloted on four case studies. CE-RISE will contribute to bridging the digital divide in society by supplying affordable second-hand ICT devices, and supporting access to digital education and job opportunities. Ultimately, CE-RISE will foster a dynamic ecosystem geared toward prolonging the use of materials in the economy and stimulating circular business models to reduce waste generation while optimizing the reuse of SRMs.

In order to secure the sustainable access to primary and secondary raw materials and particularly Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) in the EU, there is a need for an expert advice to better understand the value chains of the raw materials screened in the CRMs assessment. Making this information freely available, through the SCRREEN knowledge database and the EC Raw Materials Information System, will support decision-making at the EU level on the CRM strategies. In the continuation of SCRREEN, SCRREEN2 will develop and strengthen the SCRREEN expert network in order to cover all raw materials screened in the CRM 2020 assessment. The work was initiated in 2019 to support the EC (validation workshop and creation of an expert database). The SCRREEN network gathers today expertise on primary and secondary resources; production, including exploration, mining, processing, recycling and refining; substitution of CRM; raw materials markets; future demand and supply; materials flows; socio-economic analysis. It covers also strategic value chains and end-use sectors, including batteries, e-mobility, renewable energy, electronics, defence and aerospace. Thanks to clustering and cooperation with other projects/initiatives, SCRREEN2 will develop this network to fill the existing gaps and to mobilize it on two axes through dedicated workshops. First, in order to improve data and knowledge on all screened raw materials, SCRREEN2 will update on a regular basis the raw materials factsheets. It will also publish sector-oriented outlook reports analysing the future supply and demand of raw materials, policy and technology gaps and innovation potential along the raw materials value chains. A work-plan, updated every 6 months, will allow SCRREEN2 to flexibly support the Commission in policy-making related to CRM in general or linked to specific applications or sectors; and to support as well the Commission in the organisation of relevant events.

EVERPV’s objective is to provide EU with efficient solutions for a sustainable treatment of end-of-life PV panels and recovery of high purity and high integrity materials. Based on the grinding of PV panels waste from the backside and/or the use of IR lamps heating, EVERPV will demonstrate two innovative technologies to delaminate the different layers of the PV panel. Combined with recycling processes, it will enable to recover glass with less than 1% impurities, encapsulant and backsheet polymers with a purity over 99%, and silver with a purity of 99%. Besides, the project will cluster with other EU-funded consortia already addressing the recycling of silicon (e.g. PHOTORAMA) to provide with a global solution. The new delamination technologies will be respectively demonstrated at ENVIE recycling plant and at 9TECH to reach TRL7. The technology demonstrated during EVERPV project targets to process more than 3000 tons of solar panels per year, thus recovering enough raw materials recovered to produce more than 350 000 new panels per year by 2030. EVERPV will finally demonstrate the potential for reusability of recovered materials in several industrial value chains in particular in the PV industry. The project will lead a strategic analysis on the potential of new EoL panels circular value chains based on estimated PV waste generation together with environmental and societal impact assessments. EVERPV has gathered a consortium of 16 participants from 8 countries whose expertise ranges from solar PV materials and recycling processes (CEA, CSEM, ENEA, TEC), recyclers (ENVIE, 9TECH), process industries and materials suppliers (SGB, DTF, DPL, JBR), PV modules manufacturing (VAL), collecting and waste treatment organizations (SOREN, ERION), policy-making, business and training facilitators (SPE, UNITAR, BI).

GEO-VISION is an user-driven project developing interactive mission-critical visual communications software solution. The focus is operationally relevant visual content from photos and video, based on GNSS, for reducing financial and humanitarian impacts of disasters. GNSS will provide trust in the data and in the communications. Networks may have low and unknown capacity. A common operational picture is achieved via a web portal, live mapping and fusion with other data. It has broad applicability, for field users, operations centers and headquarters of different organizations, and is far beyond state of the art. Relevant data can be shared between collaborating organizations. Customers can purchase the software or subscribe as a service. Technical innovations are related to how GNSS is used for providing trust and confidentiality into data and communications. The concept of interactive mission-critical visual communications is fundamentally different from traditional approaches. GEO-VISION allows users to focus on relevant and trusted operational content. Bandwidth savings compared to sending full resolution is in the order of 100-1000 times, yet still keeping access to full resolution. Trust includes location, Galileo signal authentication, spoofing and jamming countermeasures. Integration with satcom, earth observation space elements and UAVs highlight the innovation. United Nations, EU Civil Protection, World Bank and insurance business provide user requirements and testing. GEO-VISION will develop pilot-level software. Analysis shows a ROI at 10X over net 7 years. GEO-VISION targets fundamental challenges, markets are global and SW deliveries scalable.