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2050 Critical Raw Materials Outlook

Electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) plays a central role in modern economic and societal activity, with demand in the EU steadily increasing due to technological innovation, digitalisation, and the transition to a low-carbon economy. Many of these products incorporate critical raw materials that are essential to their performance, alongside hazardous substances requiring careful management when reaching the end of life phase. Understanding future projections on EEE and waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is therefore essential for contributing to resource security, supporting sustainable growth, and mitigating
environmental risks. The European transition to a green and digital economy relies on a secure and stable supply of raw materials, especially those considered critical and are used in technologies such as batteries, electronics, and wind turbines. Alongside newly mined materials, recovered materials, known as secondary raw materials, play a crucial role in reducing dependence on imports and strengthening supply chain resilience. To support this goal, the European Union introduced the Critical Raw Materials Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1252, n.d.), a key piece of legislation designed to ensure sustainable and reliable access to the materials most crucial to Europe’s future and for which supply is unstable.

To support these efforts, the FutuRaM project, funded by the EU’s Horizon Europe research programme, developed comprehensive datasets on WEEE. These datasets cover the life cycle of products, from when they are first sold and placed on the market to their disposal and subsequent treatment, as well as the recovery potential of valuable materials. The project analysed trends from 2010 to 2050 across the EU, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom (EU27+4), under three future scenarios: business as- usual, recovery, and circularity. The business-as usual scenario assumes current trends continue, the recovery scenario focuses on improved collection and recovery systems, while maintaining current levels of consumption and waste generation, and the circularity scenario envisions a shift toward longer-lasting, repairable products and reduced waste generation, supported by enhanced collection and recovery systems.