“Communities should not just survive mining; they should thrive from it.” This is the opening sentence of the Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) summary report of the 20th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF). “As the mining sector powers the global transition to a green and digital economy,” ENB highlights the need for it “to redefine the current paradigm to equitably distribute mineral[s] and benefits, uplift communities, and protect the environment.”
Setting the scene, the ENB report cites the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2024, which warns that supplying the critical minerals for electric vehicles (EVs), wind turbines, solar panels, and other technologies driving the clean energy transition “would require some USD 800 billion in investment in mining by 2040 to meet the 1.5°C goal under the Paris Agreement on climate change.”
While the IEA’s 2024 Outlook shows “progress made by the mining industry on work safety, gender balance, community investment, and renewable energy use for mineral production,” it reveals the need to do better in reducing waste generation, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and water consumption, ENB notes. In addition, it writes, in the absence of “strong uptake” of recycling and reuse of critical minerals, “mining capital requirements to meet the 1.5°C goal would need to be one-third higher.”
Themed, ‘Redefining Mining: Balancing the Need for Minerals with Protecting People and the Planet,’ the AGM met in twelve formal sessions over the course of three days to address these and other issues, including:
- Accelerating the production of critical minerals;
- The possible role of circularity in bridging the supply gap;
- Incentivizing local value addition;
- Putting people first, including with regard to respect for human rights in mining;
- The interconnection of critical mineral demand and gender equality and social inclusion;
- Navigating the bewildering collection of global mining standards;
- Protecting nature amid the energy transition;
- Transforming mining through disruptive technologies; and
- The role of non-metallic minerals (NMMs) in the energy transition.
The 20th AGM of the IGF convened in Geneva, Switzerland, from 18-20 November 2024. [ENB Coverage of IGF 20th AGM]