UNEP works in tandem with partners across the UN system to ensure the mainstreaming of environmental priorities in the context of extractives and informed by the breadth of the UN’s knowledge and perspectives on the topic.
The success of the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources will depend heavily on the availability and accessibility of critical energy transition minerals. In support of the energy transition required to meet the Paris goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and of accelerating the achievement of the sustainable development, the United Nations, through a Secretary-General’s initiative on ‘Harnessing Critical Energy Transition Minerals for Sustainable Development in Least Developed and Land-Locked Developing Countries’, is working towards building trust, reliability, sustainability and benefit sharing in existing energy transition minerals supply chains, while also supporting the transformation of these supply chains to harness opportunities and capacities in support of longer term sustainable development of the producer countries. Under the umbrella of the initiative, the UN Knowledge Hub on Extractives, a Toolkit on Critical Energy Transition Minerals and a UN Framework on Just Transitions for Critical Energy Transition Minerals are set to be devised to support facilitating a just energy transition.
The Secretary-General’s Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals was launched on 26 April with the aim of developing a set of common principles with a view to building trust among parties by addressing issues relating to equity, transparency, investment, environmental sustainability and human rights, and to guide the transition away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy powered by critical minerals. The Panel is co-chaired by Ambassador Nozipho Joyce Mxakato-Diseko of South Africa and Director-General for Energy Ditte Juul Jørgensen of the European Commission, with 39 members representing governments, intergovernmental and expert international organizations, industry and civil society.
Learn more about UNEP’s work on critical minerals here.
