“How a sustainable supply chain can benefit your business”

INVITATION

21 February 2019 in Berlin

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are pleased to invite you to attend a combined rare earth value chain workshop and networking event on Thursday 21 February in Berlin. The event is co-organized with EIT Raw Materials GmbH, which has provided the EC funded sponsorship for the Global Rare Earth Industry Association Project (GloREIA).

GloREIA has now started its Outreach Program to gain attention to the establishment of a registered Rare Earth Industry Association (REIA), that will focus on the development of an integrated,
de-risked and sustainable value chain for various rare earth material products. The REIA will represent the mutual interests of its united value chain participants, be it stakeholder networking, project research or sustainable sourcing.

The goal of this first workshop is to facilitate a round table for discussing the FairMagnet production certification process as one of the risk diversification options for the conventional supply chain of rare earth magnets. In this context, the use of Life Cycle Assessment and new ISO norms for measuring the sustainable production potential “from mine to magnet” will also be addressed.

The FairMagnet initiative is coordinated by the Global Nature Fund, which has received financial support from ENGAGEMENT GLOBAL with means of the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development.

All of the invited stakeholders have vested interests in increasing the transparency within the rare earth related value chains. The access to clear market information should lead to the optimised use of resources, and eventually result in reduced price volatility risks and improved security of planning.

We are looking forward to exchange views with you in person!

Best regards

Prof. Karel van Acker
Coordinator of the GloREIA Project

Workshop program:
Please see the following pages.

Workshop location:
Ellington Hotel

Nürnberger Str. 50-55,

10789 Berlin

Germany

Phone: +49 30 683150

https://www.ellington-hotel.com/

Registration:
Please confirm your participation by email until Friday 30^th of November 2018 to:
nabeel.mancheri@kuleuven.be
After your registration you will receive a confirmation per email.

Relevant links:
– GloREIA:                     www.gloreia.org 
– EIT Raw Materials:       www.eitrawmaterials.eu
– FairMagnet:                www.fairmagnet.org

REIA – FairMagnet Workshop
on REE supply chain certification and transparency

“How a sustainable supply chain can benefit your business”

21 February 2019 in Berlin

The REIA-FairMagnet initiative is strategically important as it helps to develop an integrated, de-risked and sustainable value chain for rare earths materials.  There is an urgent need to systematically explore smartly designed, collaborative ways to provide cost effective, long-term competitive supply security. Thus, this challenge will be facilitated by developing a well-matched global stakeholder network, analyzing the potential for sustainable supply chains and finding solutions for optimizing current value chains.

As the EU places more and more emphasis on “green technologies” needed to meet its 2020 energy targets and circular economy package initiatives, transparency is considered to play a critical role in the competitiveness of sustainable rare earths mining and processing activities. The issue has indeed become critical, as there is neither an industry-wide certification nor a standard for socio-environmental reporting across the REE value chain.

In response to the environmentally unfriendly reputation of REEs, the REE industry could conduct a complete and thorough tracking on the rare earths they use. Efforts can be put into optimizing processes and creating synergies within the industry, as well as enhancing international cooperation in order to achieve a sustainable production pattern in both Eastern and Western countries. The industry wide initiative could also improve communication with stakeholders in downstream industries.

To address the transparency and sustainability issues in REE value chain, GloREIA (sponsored by EIT Raw Materials) and FairMagnet (coordinated by Brugger Magnetsysteme GmbH, Berners Consulting and the Global Nature Fund) have jointly launched the “REIA-FairMagnet Certification” scheme.

FairMagnet is a voluntary industrial initiative. It cooperates closely with academic and governmental institutions, as well as non-governmental organizations to increase the environmental and social standards, as well as safety conditions at work in Chinese raw magnet production. It has been designed to increase environmental, economic and social standards along the entire supply chain of raw magnets.

The REIA-FairMagnet transparency and sustainability initiative can also contribute to EU resource efficiency policies. For example, the support of EU policies, such as the Product Environmental Footprint, enables greater resource efficiencies and the commercialization of more environmentally friendly products. REIA-FairMagnet will also align with initiatives such as the Communication on Sustainable Consumption and Production (CEC 2008a)[i] and the Communication on Circular Economy (CEC 2015b)[ii], the SMM initiative by OECD[iii] and United Nation’s SDGs[iv].                                                            

Agenda for Thursday 21 of February 2019:

ⁱ Sustainable Consumption and Production and Sustainable Industrial Policy (SCP/SIP) Action Plan,
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52008DC0397

ii Communications on the circular economy,
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/publications/communications-circular-economy_en

iii Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) (OECD), http://www.oecd.org/env/waste/smm.htm

iv United Nations Sustainable Development Platform, https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs