R eforms in the standard setting procedures reforms in the formulation of standards and the promotion of voluntary standardslabellingcertifcations can help bring products using innovative processes high shares of circular materials use andor having low emissions over the full lifecycle 274 to the mark et Procurement practices are still underutilized as a strategic tool to drive a lowCO 2 transition for e xample in large infrastructure and buildings projects which are major end use sectors of some of the base metals European policy mak ers could improve public procurement practices across the EU by making better use of the e xisting Public Procurement P ack age by improving coordination at the EU level and by linking public procurement to lowCO 2 standards Some metals companies are already working on and using voluntary standards e g usage of postconsumer scrap or footprint direct and indirect CO 2 emissions 275 276 This can help bring about EU standards for metals use in products or through public procurement Because of the EU s large internal consumer mark et such standard might become internationally tradeable e g LME EU green alumini um premium and can hence allow producers to ask price premium and pass through some of the additional costs associated with low CO 2 production The full transition to a climate neutral industry will require a signifcant increase in invest ments compared to today Companies will only mak e these investments if the conditions are right This includes having mature technologies at hand a growing mark et for lowCO 2 solutions and infrastructure in place together with access to reliable green and competi tively priced energy These enabling conditions will be necessary but might not be suf cient A radical transformation of industry over a relatively short time period compared to 30year investment cycles will lik ely require additional support to facilitate and accelerate the necessary investments on an EUwide scale Fiscal instruments can assist in guiding investments towards lowCO 2 solutions but also bigger new EU fnancing instruments such as investment platforms or even an industrial sovereign wealth fund can be considered In many cases the transition of industrial processes will occur at the same site therefore brownfeld conversion will become an important feature of Europe s industrial transition 274 Including the impact of mining and transport of raw materials 275 Hobson 2017 276 One of the largest building projects in Norway the Ok ern P ortal is using Norsk Hydro s Circal 75R aluminium as facade material in its new innovative ofce building Circal 75R aluminium is a newly developed alloy with a minimum content of 75 postconsumer recycled aluminium It has a carbon footprint of below 23 k g CO 2 per k g aluminium The production process is fully traceable and the product is certifed by an independent third party DNV GL The building and construction industry represent up to 40 of total CO 2 emissions and EU targets require all new buildings to be nearly zeroenergy from 2021 The Ok ern P ortal project is a successful e xample of how the aluminium industry can provide lowcarbon solutions to meet customers increasing demand for green materials which are needed to meet their own sustainability targets The recycled aluminium facade of 14600 m2 will not only help to reduce the total carbon footprint of the building but can also be fully dismantled and reused making it a truly lowcarbon and circular project Sustainability is a k ey element in the project which is also incentivized by the BREEAM Ex cellent certifcation a voluntary certifcation setting high sustainability requirements to all materials used in the project This contributes to bring innovative products to the mark et The Owned by Oslo P ensjonsforsikring the Ok ern P ortal is scheduled for completion in 2021 the use of EU fnancing and investment instruments e g strategic projects of common European interest with the goal to reduce the cost of capital and hence costs that will be passed through to consumers 83 Supporting climate friendly innovation and investments As shown in Chapter 5 the nonferrous metals industry has the potential to further and sometimes even radically innovate its production processes Many of the technologies men tioned have not yet reached pilot or largescale demonstration stage and will hence require high risk and capitalintensive investments The nonferrous metals industry in all its diversity should proactively engage itself fully in important EU initiatives supporting breakthrough innovations related to industrial processes and resource efciency Important e xamples are SPIRE 2050 sustainable process industry resource efciency and Horizon Europe for lower TRL innovation and the EU ET S innovation fund for the fnancing of industrial pilot and demonstration projects The industry will have to both engage in projects that can serve multiple metals production routes and in coopera tion with other industries e g on CCUS and Hydrogen through industrial partnerships The EU s R D framework is starting to address the important innovation challenges that e xist for energy intensive industries While Horizon Europe the Innovation Fund Invest EU and the Connecting Europe Facility are seen as part of a broader innovation architecture linking basic R D to piloting demonstration and later commercialisation the governance or oversight required to ensure this link age with the goal to create solid innovation chains is still not optimal R obust and regular monitoring of progress of the state of innovation will be important together with the fe xibility to reorient fnancing in case certain areas do not progress sufciently For companies engaging in industrial process innovation it will be important to see a smooth and reliable innovation support process from basic R D to commercialisation over diferent innovation support instruments The development of new technologies in itself does not secure their deployment in the EU Some lowCO 2 solutions e g basic materials produced with breakthrough technologies will be more e xpensive compared to production with incumbent technologies This price diference can become smaller over time as more e xperience is gained of new production technologies and these become incrementally more costefcient For this learning curve to materialise however sufcient demand for lowCO 2 products must e xist in the frst place It is therefore important to create domestic lead mark ets MET ALS IN A CLIMA TE NEUTRAL EUROPE A 2050 BL UEPRINT 76