An expert panel advises governments and businesses to voluntarily adopt new standards for the mining of key minerals that are needed to power the world's transition to clean energy technologies.
What's new: A U.N. panel reported on Wednesday that the world urgently needs to adopt recommendations and guiding principles to ensure that the opportunities of the global energy transition are pursued with equity, justice and sustainability. "We must ensure past mistakes do not become the hallmarks of the future, not just where minerals are mined, but along the entire value chain from refining and manufacturing, to transport and end-of-use recycling," the 35-page report warns.
What's next: Demand for minerals such as copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt and rare earth elements that are critical to renewable energy technologies is expected to almost triple by 2030. The panel wants governments, industry and others to adopt its recommendations and guiding principles on equity, justice and sustainability.
What's important: These so-called critical energy transition minerals are key components in electric vehicles, solar panels, battery storage, wind turbines and other fast-growing clean energy technologies. They are essential for the world to stick to its 2015 Paris Agreement commitments to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy and cut global carbon emissions to net zero by 2050.
Who's involved: The U.N. Secretary-General’s Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals is co-chaired by South African diplomat Nozipho Joyce Mxakato-Diseko of European Commission energy chief Ditte Juul Jørgensen. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres calls its work "a how-to guide to help generate prosperity and equality alongside clean power." Nations agreed at last year's COP28 climate summit to triple global renewables capacity and double energy efficiency.
What's happening now: At Guterres' request, the panel and its co-chairs are consulting and sharing the report and its recommendations with U.N. member nations and others ahead of the COP29 climate summit later this year. "There is urgency to work together with a clear understanding that we either sink together or rise together,” Mxakato-Diseko says.
