New York, 26 April 2024 -- With ever-growing needs for minerals that are critical for renewable energy technologies, Secretary-General António Guterres is leveraging the United Nations’ convening power to bring together a diverse group of governments and other stakeholders across the entire minerals value chain to develop a set of global common and voluntary principles to safeguard environmental and social standards and embed justice, in the energy transition.
A newly established Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals -- co-chaired by Ambassador Nozipho Joyce Mxakato-Diseko of South Africa and Director-General for Energy Ditte Juul Jørgensen of the European Commission -- will address issues relating to equity, transparency, investment, sustainability and human rights.
“A world powered by renewables is a world hungry for critical minerals,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said at the launch of the Panel. “For developing countries, critical minerals are a critical opportunity -- to create jobs, diversify economies, and dramatically boost revenues. But only if they are managed properly. The race to net zero cannot trample over the poor. The renewables revolution is happening – but we must guide it towards justice.”
“In establishing the Panel, the UN Secretary-General is commendably responding to a normative gap identified by many countries, especially developing countries, related to critical minerals and rare earths required for sustainable development and just transitions,” Ambassador Mxakato-Diseko said. “The objective of the Panel, aligned to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the United Nations Framework Agreement on Climate Change and its Paris Agreement, is to build trust and certainty towards harnessing the potential of these minerals to be utilized to unlock shared prosperity, leaving no one and no place behind”.
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