“Today’s report from Table of Critical Energy Conversion Minerals is a practical guide to help create prosperity and equality with clean energy,” the United Nations said. Secretary-General António Guterres.
Many of today’s rapidly developing clean energy technologies, from wind turbines and solar panels to electric vehicles and battery storage, depend on such technologies. important energy converting minerals such as copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt and rare earth elements.
The report Identify ways to build a renewable energy revolution based on justice and equity to promote sustainable development, respect for people, protect the environment and promote prosperity in resource-rich developing countries.
Learn more in our renewable energy explainer This.
Ore containing copper, cobalt and nickel at a mine in eastern Australia.
5 Tools for a Cleaner, Greener, and More Prosperous Future
Seven guiding principles for direct action and five recommendations to help put them into practice and address key gaps in international governance are set out in 35 pages. Providing resources for the energy transition The report was compiled by energy ministers and other experts from around the world.
Equity, transparency, investment, sustainability and human rights drive the council’s recommendations, which focus on where minerals are extracted and the entire value chain, from refining and manufacturing to transport and post-use recycling.
The Council recommends establishing a core set of tools, ranging from an initiative to empower artisanal and small-scale miners in becoming agents of transformation in promoting development, environmental management and human rights a global mining heritage fund build confidence and address issues related to abandoned, derelict or abandoned mines and strengthen financial assurance mechanisms for mine closure and rehabilitation.
It further proposes to build a global framework for traceability, transparency and accountability along the entire mineral value chain as well as Senior Expert Advisory Group to accelerate benefit sharing and economic diversification in the critical energy transition minerals value chain.
Sustainable Development Goal 7: CLEAN ENERGY FOR ALL
Sustainable Development Goal 7
- Doubling the pace of global energy efficiency improvements
- Increasing the share of renewable energy globally
- Expand infrastructure and upgrade technology to provide modern, sustainable energy services
- Strengthen international cooperation to facilitate access to clean energy research and technology, including renewable energy, energy efficiency and advanced and cleaner fossil fuel technologies
- Expand infrastructure and upgrade technology to provide modern and sustainable energy services to all in developing countries, especially least developed countries, small island developing states And landlocked developing countries
International funding for clean energy in developing countries fell to just $10.8 billion in 2021 from a peak of $26.4 billion in 2017.
‘We either sink together or rise together’
Council co-chair Nozipho Joyce Mxakato-Diseko, who served as South Africa’s Ambassador to the United Nations, explained that at the core of the report’s guiding principles are the need for partnership, justice and equality, and above all development with respect for human rights at its core.
“This is a time when cooperation is paramount for countries to effectively address multiple crises,” she said, stressing that development is imperative for global economic growth.
“With climate change at the heart of these crises, we need to work closely together with a clear understanding that we will either sink together or rise together based on the common values that have held nations together to this day, with human rights, justice, equality and shared interests guiding us towards shared prosperity globally,” said Ms. Mxakato-Diseko.
‘We cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of the past’
Council co-chair Ditte Juul Jørgensen, who is also Director General for Energy at the European Commission, praised the UN chief’s leadership in tackling this transformative issue.
“This is what multilateralism is all about,” she said, recalling that all countries agreed to triple global renewable energy capacity and double energy efficiency at last year’s United Nations Climate Change Summit.COP28).
“We cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of the past,” said Ms. Jørgensen. “We must now seize the opportunity to grow our economies, protect our societies, protect our environment and share the benefits more equitably while we tackle the climate crisis.”
“Demand for critical minerals will skyrocket as the world transitions from fossil fuels to renewable energy to reduce global carbon dioxide emissions to net zero by 2050,” said Ms Jørgensen.
Limiting global warming to 1.5°C to prevent the worst impacts of climate change will depend on sufficient, reliable and affordable supplies of these minerals.
Accelerating the renewable energy race
With large reserves of key energy transition minerals, developing countries have the opportunity to transform and diversify their economies, create green jobs and promote sustainable local development, according to the workshop.
However, mineral resource development does not always deliver on this promise.
Responding to calls from developing countries for globally consistent guidance to ensure responsible, equitable and just value chains, the council brings together governments, intergovernmental and international organizations, industry and civil society to build trust, guide a just transition and accelerate the transition to renewable energy.
The action window is closing.
As the door closes on limiting the global average temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and meeting the goals of Paris Agreement On climate change, the UN chief outlined the way forward.
“As next steps, I have asked the co-chairs and the council to consult and share the report and its recommendations with member states and other stakeholders before COP29 “We will consider this possibility later this year,” Mr. Guterres said, pledging the UN system to support the council’s work to protect and promote human rights across the entire critical minerals value chain.
Through all of this, civil society, young people and indigenous people must be heard and have a seat at the negotiating table, he said.
“Let us work together to deliver renewable energy to create a fairer, more just and more prosperous future for all.”
