COP29 and Transition Minerals: Three Opportunities to Move the Needle

The human and environmental costs of mining are no secret; they underscore the vital importance of transformation in the sector. And demand for minerals essential to production of solar panels, wind turbines, and electric vehicles mean that it more urgent than ever for international actors to ensure that mining’s dark history is not repeated as the energy transition gathers momentum.

Recognizing this urgency, UN Secretary-General António Guterres at last year’s COP28 called for a high-level panel to address the challenges of mineral governance, with the UN publishing the panel’s guidance in September 2024.

The panel’s seven guiding principles and recommendations set a new course for the governance of mineral supply chains, one that promises equitable benefit-sharing with, and economic opportunities for, the people and countries at the beginning of the chain. The journey will be long, and the scope of needed international policy action is broad, from a reset to customary benefit-sharing arrangements between governments and companies to upgrading anticorruption practice to boosting circularity and establishing “no-go zones” to protect nature.

With COP29 underway in Baku, Azerbaijan, parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change have three opportunities to spur and complement progress toward minerals governance that drives sustainable and inclusive development:

Link minerals governance priorities to renewable energy scale-up

In the first global stocktake of progress toward the aims of the Paris Agreement, at COP28, countries called for a tripling of renewable energy capacity by 2030. As countries move to answer this call over the second half of this “critical decade,” they should work to align and strengthen linkages between the agenda set out by the UN minerals panel and decisions and actions agreed through the UN climate process. The obvious starting point is reference to the guiding principles set out by the UN panel in all future references to the renewables scale-up, starting at COP29.

There’s also potential to integrate or cross-reference reporting on traceability, transparency and accountability across the mineral value chain with related reporting on progress towards tripling renewable energy capacity. And, as efforts to boost material efficiency and circularity approaches gather steam, the countries party to the Paris Agreement could link these to emissions reduction measures in future national climate targets (nationally determined contributions, or NDCs) and related transparency mechanisms.

Provide for minerals benefit sharing within the new climate finance goal

Agreement on a new climate finance goal (the “new collective quantified goal on climate finance” or NCQG) is the main goal countries are working toward at COP29. Negotiations on this agenda item have been underway for two years, with one important debate centering around the scope and intended purpose of climate finance.

In their latest report ahead of COP29 the finance negotiation co-chairs noted the opportunity to include in the overall finance goal “… sub-goals reflecting specific outputs or outcomes, such as the target to triple renewable energy capacity globally…”. The relevance of investments in greater benefit-sharing, value addition and economic diversification in low- and middle-income mineral-producing countries is a compelling reason to include it in the list of priorities eligible for climate finance under the new goal.

Cement enhanced minerals governance in just transition pathways

The one place where transition minerals are specifically referenced in the UN climate process is the Just Transition Work Program (JTWP). The chairs’ report from the most recent JTWP dialogue already contains several references, including to unequal benefits (“particularly regarding the extraction of critical minerals and localization of profits arising from that extraction,” (para. 34)), technology cooperation and transfer (para. 174), and even the UN panel report and its guiding principles, specifically (also para. 174).

Less a politically charged negotiation and more a space for mutual exchange and learning on the technical aspects of building and support just transitions, many Global South countries see this work program as an important pivot to make the UN climate convention and its Paris Agreement more responsive and aligned with their sustainable development priorities. By fully integrating the UN panel’s guiding principles as well as its actionable recommendations in the work program’s proceedings going forward, the countries party to the Paris Agreement can help ensure minerals governance features in just transition strategies and plans in relevant national contexts—and provide the basis for stronger linkages with the UN climate regime as renewable energy capacity is scaled to deliver on the Paris/1.5°C goal.

At NRGI we look forward to engaging a range of stakeholders in Baku and beyond to explore these and other potential linkages toward a just and equitable transformation of transition minerals governance.