Opportunities for EU & Japan Industrial and Innovation Cooperation in the Circular Economy for Strategic Metals

With both the EU and Japan looking to decarbonise society and achieve climate neutrality by 2050, demand for ‘strategic metals’ used in cleantech is increasing and securing these critical raw materials’ availability will be key to ensuring strategic autonomy and the resilience of post-covid industrial strategies. ‘Circularity’ is part of the solution and underpins the 2021 EU-Japan Green Alliance under which the EU and Japan will deepen their “policy dialogue and cooperation on supply chain sustainability, circular economy and resource efficiency”, collaborate in multilateral frameworks to seek “concrete action in support of a global just transition to a climate neutral, resource efficient and circular economy” and will “cooperate to develop principles on circular economy and resource efficiency for stakeholders such as businesses and investors”.

To that end, this webinar will build a bridge between the EU and Japan to share initiatives and strategies to realise the circular economy of strategic metals used to decarbonise energy and mobility and address the opportunities for EU-Japan industrial and innovation cooperation. The European Commission’s Directorate-Generals for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship & SMEs and for Environment, and the Japanese Ministries of Economy, Trade & Industry and Economy will address public policy actions and Processes4Planet, Flanders Metals Valley, University of Liège and the Japan Partnership for Circular Economy will address innovation and circular economy ecosystems.

Organised by the BJA’s Innovation, Partnerships & Trade Committee and by the EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation, this event will bring together policymakers, researchers and industry figures to identify the EU and Japanese policy instruments and industrial innovation methods that will nurture the circular economies for strategic metals and help the EU and Japan ensure a green transition.

To find out more about the importance of circular economy to achieving the green & digital transformation in Europe and beyond, you can read Dr Fabrice Stassin's article in the June issue of the BJA Trade Flows and Cultural Newsletter on page 4.

Program

9:30 (16:30)	Opening Remarks
	Philippe de Taxis du Poët
	Managing Director - EU-side, EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation
	Moderator: Koh Ichi Masaki
	Head of European Affairs, Japan Management Association and BJA IPT Committee Co-Chair
	Introductory words
	Fabrice Stassin
	Director Government Affairs, Umicore and BJA EU Committee Chair
9:40 (16:40)	The View of the European Commission and Government of Japan
	Peter Handley
	Head of Unit - Energy Intensive Industries - Raw Materials, DG GROW, European Commission
	Kazuaki Kobayashi
	Director, Mineral and Mineral and Natural Resources Division, Natural Resources and
	Fuel Department, Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, METI
	Nevena Mateeva
	First Secretary, Trade Section - Delegation of the EU to Japan
	Minako Kageyama
	Deputy Director, Industrial and Hazardous Waste Management Division, Environment Regeneration and
	Resource Circulation Bureau, Ministry of the Environment
10:30 (17:30)	The Role of Innovation and Circular Economy Ecosystems
	Christian Leroy
	Board Member - Processes4Planet and Head of Innovation - European Aluminium
	Frédérik Verhaeghe
	Research Fellow at Umicore Corporate R&D and Flanders Metals Valley
	Philippe Giaro
	Senior Research Officer, Georesources, Minerals Engineering and Extractive Metallurgy
	University of Liège, and Reverse Metallurgy Initiative
	Toru Nishiyama
	Principal Visiting Researcher, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES),
	J4CE Secretariat, Japan Partnership for Circular Economy
11:05 (18:05)	Q&A and Closing Remarks moderated by Fabrice Stassin
11:30 (18:30)	End of webinar