A Slow Train Crash That Can Be Avoided: Citizen Power, the Mining of Critical Raw Materials (CRMS) Within Europe and the Need for Investment in Political Realities

Abstract

The EU requires Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) and recognises that failure to access them within its jurisdiction, will damage its resilience and competitiveness. Additionally, this will force EU industries to purchase CRM materials from unsavoury social and environmental weak jurisdictions. By failing to develop a taxonomy for mining in the Green Deal, the EU invites social and political conflict, through the creation of critical Social Licence to Operate (SLO) situations around new and developing mining projects in Europe. SLO is represented by Proctor’s (2021) Social Licence Settlement Model (SLSM) as a type of political settlement. Defining that term in this way, enables a range of essential relationships to be mapped. Once essential relationships within a dynamic model for SLO are represented relationally, it becomes possible to explore the factors shaping those interactions and ultimately investigate the designing of metrics. In this context the SLSM model illustrates the urgent need for the EU to develop a range of systems and approaches for engaging citizens around potential and developing mining projects.