The COBALT project closing conference, "Sustainable raw materials management in Europe – Fostering stakeholder dialogue to deliver on the future" took place from 23 to 24 March 2015 in Brussels at Les Ateliers des Tanneurs. The closing conference brought together experts and perspectives from industry and business, policy making, civil society, academia, and the geological services to describe the thematic challenges, facing industry and society and to discuss how stakeholder engagement should best be shaped to effectively determine an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable management of raw materials in the EU.

The COBALT project dialogue and exchange events have highlighted that achieving sustainable raw materials management to deliver on the EU's socio-economic and environmental goals requires early-on and effective involvement and co-management of a multitude of actors across the entire value chain, from extraction through to production and consumption to re-use and after-use.

Appropriate forms of engagement will need to cater to the relevant topics, regional context and cultural settings of the target dialogue participants – and create both the space for and trust in dialogue processes.

All photos and presentations from the conference can be found on the conference website.