CISTEMEEC

CISTEMEEC is part of the Reverse Metallurgy+ portfolio submitted by the Reverse Metallurgy platform as part of a call launched by the Walloon Government to implement the Wallonie Circulaire strategy. It covers two priority value chains: metallurgy and construction. A total of 18 projects have been selected, covering the themes of “low-carbon industry” and “the circular economy”, two pillars of Wallonia’s Recovery Plan, for which the Walloon Region has mobilised €113 million. The 18 projects financed have the potential to create 991 direct jobs and 1,524 indirect sustainable jobs in sustainable sectors of activity. The boom in electric transport combined with the energy transition, involving the growing use of renewable energies, is at the heart of the major shift towards a low-carbon society. The energy vector is no longer carbon, but a series of technological metals such as copper, cobalt, nickel, lithium, rare earths and even precious metals such as platinum, palladium, rhodium and silver. This transition implies a change in structural demand for such metals and supports the construction of new industrial production capacity. The circular economy, in synergy with the primary mining and metals sector, will not only underpin these necessary production increases but, in the case of the circular economy and recycling, will also provide sustainable end-of-life management for battery-equipped consumer products.