"The objective of the panel ... 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."

António Guterres

With the growing demand for minerals critical to renewable energy technologies, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has utilized the organization's convening power to unite governments and stakeholders along the entire mineral value chain. The goal: to establish global voluntary principles that ensure environmental and social standards are upheld in the ongoing energy transition.

A newly established panel on critical energy transition minerals, co-chaired by Ambassador Nozipho Joyce Mxakato-Diseko of South Africa and Ditte Juul Jørgensen, Director-General for Energy at the European Commission, will address issues of equity, transparency, investment, sustainability, and human rights.

"A world powered by renewables is a world hungry for critical minerals," said Guterres 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."

Per the UN, limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (34.7 degrees Fahrenheit) to avert the worst impacts of climate change will depend on the sufficient, reliable, and affordable supply of critical energy transition minerals such as copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, and rare earth elements, which are essential components of clean energy technologies – from wind turbines and solar panels to electric vehicles and battery storage.

Nozipho Joyce Mxakato-Diseko

"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," said Ambassador Mxakato-Diseko. "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."

At COP28 held last year in Dubai – the United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) – governments agreed to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030.

However, the UN's website writes "there is no pathway to achieving this goal without a significant increase of supply of critical energy transition minerals," and that "according to the International Energy Agency, mineral demand for clean energy applications is set to grow by three and a half times by 2030 on the pathway to reaching global net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050."

Ditte Juul Jørgensen

"The global energy goals we all agreed at COP28 require a rapid scale-up in the manufacturing and deployment of renewables globally and critical energy transition minerals," said Jørgensen. "I am honored to have been asked by the UN Secretary-General to co-chair this panel and help develop principles to ensure a fair and transparent approach globally and for local communities in the entire value chain – upholding the highest sustainability and human development standards."

Responding to calls from developing countries for globally agreed-upon guidance to ensure responsible, fair, and just value chains, the UN-convened panel brings together governments, intergovernmental and international organizations, industry, and civil society to build trust, guide the just transition and accelerate the race to renewables.

It will work toward building upon existing UN initiatives, particularly the Working Group on Transforming the Extractive Industries for Sustainable Development and its flagship initiative on "Harnessing Critical Energy Transition Minerals for Sustainable Development," and will draw from existing standards and initiatives to strengthen and consolidate existing efforts.

Panel members include 23 member states and 14 organizations.