Speeding up environmental assessments: Risks, gaps and recommendations

The European Union needs to reduce pressure on critical raw materials demand while addressing supply risks. Demand reduction, material efficiency, reuse, repair, recovery, and recycling must remain central to this strategy. But new mining and processing projects are also part of the picture, and they need functioning, predictable permitting systems.

This position paper looks at the European Commission’s new proposal for a Regulation on speeding-up environmental assessments, published in December 2025. The proposal introduces several problematic or insufficient measures. In its draft report on the proposal, the European Parliament’s ENVI Committee suggest some important improvements, but also leaves many gaps.

Read our paper to discover how policymakers can plug these gaps.