SCYCLE

The FutuRaM Final Report presents the most comprehensive assessment to date of Europe’s “urban mine” — the stocks and waste streams containing critical raw materials (CRMs) essential for clean energy technologies, digitalisation, and modern industry.

Developed under the Horizon Europe-funded FutuRaM project, the report maps and quantifies 42 critical raw materials embedded across seven major European waste streams, including waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), waste batteries, end-of-life vehicles, construction and demolition waste, mining waste, slags and ashes, and dismantled wind turbines.

The report demonstrates that Europe’s waste streams could become a major strategic source of secondary raw materials by 2050, significantly reducing dependency on imported primary materials while supporting the EU’s circular economy and climate objectives.

Key findings

The report estimates that by 2050 Europe could recover between 4.1 and 5.7 million tonnes of critical raw materials annually from waste streams across the EU27+4 region.

Depending on the scenario:

• Secondary raw materials could substitute up to 33-56% of Europe’s demand for critical raw materials
• Aluminium recovery could grow from about 0.9 million tonnes per year today to as much as 2.7 – 3.5 million tonnes by 2050
• Copper recovery could rise from 0.3 million tonnes to as much as 0.8 – 1.4 million tonnes annually
• Lithium recovery could increase from less than 1,000 tonnes today to 30,000–52,000 tonnes annually
• Cobalt recovery could grow from around 1,000 tonnes to up to 25,000–40,000 tonnes annually
• Nickel recovery could rise to more than 103,000–170,000 tonnes per year

The report also highlights substantial climate benefits. By 2050, recycling and recovery activities could avoid between 81 and 273 million tonnes of CO₂-equivalent emissions annually, compared to emissions from primary extraction and processing.

A central outcome of the project is the enhanced Urban Mine Platform, which provides harmonised data and visualisation tools for Europe’s secondary raw materials landscape. The platform enables policymakers, researchers, and industry stakeholders to better understand material flows and recovery potential across Europe.

Context and impact

Critical raw materials are essential for batteries, renewable energy systems, electric vehicles, electronics, and other strategic technologies. However, Europe currently relies heavily on imports from a limited number of supplier countries.

The FutuRaM Final Report highlights how improving collection systems, recycling infrastructure, and secondary raw material recovery could strengthen Europe’s resilience, reduce environmental impacts, and support implementation of the EU Critical Raw Materials Act.

The report also introduces SARA4UNFC, a new framework based on the United Nations Framework Classification (UNFC), designed to help evaluate the technical, economic, environmental, and social feasibility of secondary raw material recovery projects.

Authors and collaborators

FutuRaM brought together experts from research institutions, industry organisations, and international partners across Europe. The project was scientifically coordinated by SCYCLE at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), in collaboration with partners including the WEEE Forum, Empa, Leiden University, TU Berlin, LMU, BRGM, SPI, Chalmers University, VITO, SGU, and many others.

The project was funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme.

Read the full report

The FutuRaM Final Report and all related datasets are publicly accessible through the Urban Mine Platform and the project Zenodo repository.
Zenodo repository
Urban Mine Platform
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including contact information