UN Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed a new panel “to develop a set of global common and voluntary principles to safeguard environmental and social standards and embed justice, in the energy transition.” The panel brings together a diverse group of Governments and stakeholders across the entire minerals value chain.

Co-chaired by Nozipho Joyce Mxakato-Diseko (South Africa) and the European Commission’s Director-General for Energy Ditte Juul Jørgensen, the 38-member Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals will work on issues relating to equity, transparency, investment, sustainability, and human rights.

Launching the Panel, the UN Secretary-General noted that to achieve net zero by 2050, demand for critical minerals, such as copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, and rare earth metals, is projected to grow three and a half times over the course of this decade. For developing countries with large reserves, the “renewables revolution” is a critical opportunity to create jobs, diversify economies, and boost revenues, ensuring they can reach the SDGs, he underscored.

Acknowledging toxicity, pollution, child labor, and benefits not reaching communities among the challenges associated with critical minerals’ extraction, Guterres said addressing them requires investments, an institutional framework, adequate laws, and adequate relations between Member States and the companies that exploit those resources.

The Panel’s Government and intergovernmental members are the African Union (AU), Australia, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Egypt, the EU, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Namibia, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the UK, the US, Viet Nam, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Non-state actors on the Panel are Climate Action Network (CAN) International, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA), the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), the International Energy Agency (IEA), the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF), IndustriALL Global Union, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), the UN Secretary-General’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change, and the World Bank.

The Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals was launched on 26 April 2024. [UN Press Release] [UN News Story] [UNEP Press Release]