The main objective of HERawS was to raise awareness and provide training for different audiences – students, researchers, policymakers, and enterprises – on the challenges linked to critical raw materials (CRMs). These are essential for the green and digital transition but remain largely unknown in their environmental, social, and geopolitical dimensions. Our goals were to: • Strengthen the role of CRMs in higher education by developing content tailored to engineers and future policymakers. • Create accessible tools to better understand the trade-offs involved in technological choices and to integrate CRMs into sustainability analysis. • Broaden the dissemination of reliable knowledge, so that policymakers and civil society have access to clear, science-based information to feed public debate. • Promote cooperation across disciplines and stakeholders (materials science, political science, enterprises, public institutions), in order to combine approaches and reinforce collective expertise on this strategic issue. The project aimed to provide the means to evaluate and anticipate risks related to CRMs, ensuring that technological and policy choices are genuinely sustainable.
The project was designed in response to a growing need for understanding and training around critical raw materials (CRMs), identified by the European Commission as essential for the green and digital transition. Since 2011, the EU list of CRMs has expanded from 14 to 30 elements (European Commission, Critical Raw Materials list). This strategic dependence raises environmental challenges (carbon footprint, pollution), social concerns (working conditions, e.g. cobalt extraction in the DRC), and geopolitical risks (strong dependence on China and Russia). The war in Ukraine further exposed Europe’s vulnerability not only in terms of gas but also for several mineral resources. The needs analysis highlighted several gaps: Higher education: lack of structured modules on CRMs in many curricula. Research: insufficient consideration of resource criticality in technological choices. Enterprises: lack of tools to anticipate supply risks and guide R&D. Public decision-makers: limited transfer of available European-level knowledge. Civil society: public debate too often simplified, lacking clear information on trade-offs.