The UN Secretary General on Friday launched an initiative to ensure fairness, sustainability and respect for human rights throughout the process of sourcing and using minerals essential for the clean energy transition.
The new Expert Group on Minerals Critical to the Energy Transition brings together a diverse group of governments, organizations and UN agencies to develop a set of common, voluntary principles to protect environmental and social standards, aimed at integrating equity in the energy transition.
“A world powered by renewable energy is a world hungry for essential minerals,” Secretary General António Guterres said at the Group’s launch.
For developing countries, this new demand represents a great opportunity to create new jobs, diversify economies and significantly increase incomes, he continued, emphasizing that this requires effective management.
“The race to net zero cannot trample the poor… the renewable energy revolution is underway, but we must ensure it happens in a way that moves us towards justice,” he added to.
Mr Guterres announced his intention to establish this group at the COP28 climate summit, held in Dubai in early December. It is expected to make initial recommendations before the UN General Assembly’s high-level week in September.
A sky-high question
As the climate crisis worsens, demand for essential minerals for renewable energy technologies such as solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicles (EVs) is skyrocketing.
For example, lithium is needed to make highly efficient batteries, electronic devices and electric vehicles, with demand expected to increase by more than 1,500%, according to the United Nations Trade and Development Agency (UNCTAD).
Similar growing demand is expected for nickel, cobalt and copper.
Growing demand could be a huge boon for many developing countries, especially in Africa, which has more than a fifth of global reserves of a dozen metals essential to the energy transition.
Cornerstone of the UN response
Mr Guterres emphasized that developing countries cannot be relegated to the bottom of the clean energy value chain – simply as suppliers of basic raw materials.
“It is no wonder that resource-rich developing countries are calling for urgent action to ensure that they and their communities benefit from the production and trade of essential minerals; and that people and nature are protected,” he said.
The UN chief offered the organization’s full support to the new group. “This work is extremely complex, but the world cannot wait,” he said.
The group members
The group is co-chaired by Ambassador Nozipho Joyce Mxakato-Diseko of South Africa and Director-General of Energy Ditte Juul Jørgensen of the European Commission.
Members include Australia, Botswana, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Namibia, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Vietnam, Zambia and Zimbabwe, in addition to the African Union, the European Union, the United Nations, intergovernmental entities and non-governmental organizations.
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