With its National Circular Economy Strategy, the German government is pursuing the goal of using resources more efficiently, strengthening recycling cycles, and increasing security of supply for industry. Political discussions have so far focused primarily on critical raw materials and rare earths.

In contrast, industrial metals such as steel, copper, and aluminum play a central role in industrial value creation, the energy transition, and transformation. They are needed in significantly larger quantities and are already highly recyclable today. Metallic recycled raw materials thus make a direct contribution to raw material supply, industrial resilience, and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

The BDE's Metals Working Group brings together the expertise of key companies along the metal value chain and focuses intensively on the political and regulatory framework for metal recycling and raw material supply. Several members of the working group will contribute their perspectives to this panel.

The panel will discuss the National Circular Economy Strategy from the perspective of the metalworking industry and the recycling industry, highlighting its strengths and areas where it could be further developed. At the same time, the discussion will provide impetus for how circular economy policy and raw materials policy can be more closely integrated in the future and what role a broader national and European raw materials strategy can play in this.