The EU s S ust ainab le Finance Action Plan f or a G r eener and Cleaner Econom y and t he Ra w Mat erials N eeds In principle E ur omines welc omed the C ommission s Sus tainable Financ e Action Plan for a gr eener and cleaner ec on om y and agr eed that a socioec onomically efficient sustain able and flexible financial system is essential for longterm value cr eation The E ur opean mineral raw materials industry pla ys a critical r ole in underpinning ec onomic gr owth The dev elopment of mineral r esour c es is a pillar for man y national ec onomies in terms of c ontribution to gr oss domestic pr oduct for eign dir ect in v estment tax and r o yalty r ev enues as well as other go v ernmental r ev enues Modern extraction and pr oc essing of minerals and metals has br ought huge benefits to society while r educing pr essur es on the en vir onment addr essing gr eenhouse g as emissions tackling pollution minimising waste and impr o ving efficiency in the use of natural r esour c es E v en mor e the mineral industry will c ontinue to enable downstr eam sectors to r ealise all these impr o v ements In this c ontext E ur omines formulated its views on the Sustainable Financ e Action Plan which should ensur e an integrated appr oach pr o viding c onsistency stability and pr edictability along the whole value chain by C ontinuing to fulfil our curr ent needs without c ompr o mising the ability of futur e generations to meet theirs K eeping financ e and in v estment a vailable to all both to those that ar e trailblaz ers and to those that ar e in need of financ e to modernise and upgrade toward achieving these targets including SMEs Mark ets industries and c ompanies in transition need assistanc e if we ar e to achiev e our shar ed goals Integrating the r esear ch dev elopment and inno vation potential in sustainability r eporting Maintaining the system s flexibility and dynamism ac c ording to the social ec onomic and en vir onmental ev olution Using ac curate definitions and methodologies that ar e both aligned and c oher ent with existing principles F ostering transpar ency and pr o viding clarity to the mark ets thr ough a c ommon understanding of sustain able in v estments and their en vir onmental impacts K eeping r eporting duties to an efficient and functional minimum Using r elativ e and not absolute indicators or ev en qual itativ e ones as metrics of selection An absolute value is a value c ompar ed to an absolute standard which cur r ently does not exist or cannot be uniformly applicable in assessing how differ ent mining sectors c ontribute to the dev elopment of low carbon technologies Enc ouraging in v estments into generic new business dev elopments such as sustainable exploration which would secur e the supply of r esour c es for the futur e Table of Contents page 25 of 35 S ustainabi li ty and Competi ti veness