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A United Nations-convened expert panel has released a comprehensive report outlining principles and recommendations to ensure the global transition to renewable energy is equitable, just and sustainable. As demand for critical minerals essential for renewable energy technologies is projected to nearly triple by 2030, the UN urged governments, industries and stakeholders to adopt these guidelines to avoid repeating past mistakes that have led to inequalities and environmental damage.
The report, Resourcing the Energy Transition: Principles to Guide Critical Energy Transition Minerals Towards Equity and Justice, was launched by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at a press briefing in New York. It aims to address concerns that the surge in demand for minerals like copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt and rare earth elements — vital for clean energy technologies such as wind turbines, solar panels and electric vehicles — could lead to a new wave of exploitation and inequality, particularly in resource-rich developing countries.
“Today’s report from the Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals is a how-to guide to help generate prosperity and equality alongside clean power,” said Secretary-General Guterres. “We established the panel in response to calls from developing countries, amid signs that the energy transition could reproduce and amplify inequalities of the past — banishing developing countries to the bottom of value chains to watch others grow rich by exploiting their people and putting their environment in jeopardy.”
The panel, co-chaired by Ambassador Nozipho Joyce Mxakato-Diseko of South Africa and Ditte Juul Jorgensen, director-general for energy at the European Commission, has set out seven guiding principles and five actionable recommendations to guide policy and practice across the critical minerals value chain.
These range from mining and refining to manufacturing, transport and end-of-life recycling. The recommendations stress the importance of fairness, transparency, investment, sustainability and human rights protections.
Guiding principles on critical energy transition minerals
Ambassador Mxakato-Diseko highlighted the urgency of international cooperation to address these interconnected challenges. “With climate change at the center of these crises, there is urgency to work together with a clear understanding that we either sink together or rise together, on the basis of the common values that have bound nations together thus far, with human rights, justice, equity and benefit sharing guiding us towards shared global prosperity,” she said.
Co-Chair Ditte Juul Jorgensen pointed out the critical need for such measures to avoid past mistakes that led to environmental destruction and social inequity. “We must now seize the opportunity to grow our economies, protect our societies, and share benefits more justly while tackling the climate crisis,” she said. “Only by turning these principles and recommendations into reality can we harness the full potential of the energy transition and create new and shared benefits for all.”
The UN's guiding principles build on existing international norms and legal obligations to which governments have already committed. They are designed to support countries in transitioning to renewable energy while ensuring that development, environmental stewardship, and human rights remain at the core.
To embed the Guiding Principles for critical energy transition mineral value chains, the UN panel proposed several actionable recommendations, leveraging the UN to create key bodies and processes. These include establishing a High-Level Expert Advisory Group to promote benefit-sharing, value addition, economic diversification, responsible trade, investment, finance and taxation in mineral value chains.
The panel also recommended creating a global traceability, transparency and accountability framework covering the entire mineral value chain — from mining to recycling — to enhance due diligence, corporate accountability and build a global market for critical minerals, ensuring it does not serve as a unilateral trade barrier.
Additionally, the establishment of a Global Mining Legacy Fund was proposed to address issues from derelict, ownerless or abandoned mines and to strengthen financial mechanisms for mine closure and rehabilitation. An initiative to empower artisanal and small-scale miners was also recommended, aiming to transform them into agents of development, environmental stewardship and human rights.
Finally, the panel called for setting equitable targets and timelines for implementing material efficiency and circularity approaches throughout the entire life cycle of critical minerals, ensuring sustainable management and utilisation of these essential resources.
“This is what multilateralism is all about,” concluded Jorgensen. “We must now seize the opportunity to grow our economies, protect our societies, preserve our environment, and share benefits more justly while we tackle the climate crisis. We cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of the past.”
The report was launched ahead of the 29th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change later this year. The Secretary-General has tasked the panel's co-chairs to engage with Member States and other stakeholders to disseminate the report’s recommendations, aiming for their integration into global climate action frameworks.