With demand for minerals critical to renewable energy technologies expected to almost triple by 2030, global and regional leaders gathered at the EU Raw Materials Week 2024 to address the critical challenge governing mineral resources essential for the energy transition. In a key session, UN agencies and the European Commission spotlighted the UN Panel's Principles for Critical Energy Transition Mineral (CETM), outlining a roadmap to ground the clean energy transition in justice and equity and ensure sustainable, equitable, and transparent CETM value chains while fostering stronger partnerships between resource-producing and consuming nations and relevant stakeholders.
The "Equitable and Just Energy Transition: Implementing UN Principles on Critical Energy Transition Minerals" session highlighted the urgency of leveraging global and regional partnerships to ensure the opportunities of the global energy transition are pursued with equity, justice and sustainability.
"The Panel's report identifies ways to ground the clean energy transition in justice and equity so that it spurs sustainable development, respects people, protects the environment and powers prosperity in resource-rich developing countries. It sets out recommendations for the entire minerals value chain, from investments to refining and manufacturing, transport and end-of-use recycling," said Elisa Tonda, Chief of the Resources and Markets Branch, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). "The CETM principles provide a clear roadmap for aligning global sustainability goals with the realities of regional and national policies, ensuring no one is left behind".
The session brought together representatives from Member States, UN agencies, the European Commission, and key stakeholders, emphasizing the role of partnerships in bridging the North-South divide. Developing countries with significant reserves of critical energy transition minerals face environmental degradation, human rights abuses, and limited local value addition. The event underscored the importance of fostering collaboration to address these issues and create mutually beneficial outcomes.
The CETM principles were presented as a unifying framework to guide these efforts, complemented by tools like the United Nations Resource Management System (UNRMS), as presented by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). "UNRMS, developed with support from the EU, is a key instrument to operationalize the principles by enhancing accountability and transparency across mineral value chains," said Dario Liguti, Director of Sustainable Energy, UNECE. "Partnerships are essential to turning these principles into action. The EU's drive, particularly through the Critical Raw Materials Act, demonstrates how regional initiatives can align with global frameworks to create a sustainable, inclusive future."
As the energy transition accelerates, the session underscored the essential need for collaboration between resource-rich countries and those with high resource consumption. By advancing sustainable governance, the UN and EU aim to ensure that the benefits of the energy transition are shared equitably, paving the way for a just and resilient future.
