Dr. Neil Walker:

The Critical Raw Materials Act and the Net Zero Industry Act are the two pillars of the Green Deal industrial plan, and they are joined at the hip. In particular, there are just not enough resources within Europe for all the batteries that are going to be needed in all the catalytic materials. We are very dependent on China for the processing of them. There will be targets for the amount of indigenous sourcing of critical materials and the processing of them. If we are not circular and they are being re-exported outside Europe for processing because we cannot get planning permission for the materials recovery facilities, then we are shooting ourselves in the foot. Apart from climate, the sustainability reporting directive is going to cover biodiversity, water quality, air quality and the circular economy. It is going to be an enormous burden on an extra 40,000 companies across Europe, who really do not know what is going to hit them in 2025.