Implementing G7 Critical Minerals Declaration Outcomes: What Equitable Partnerships Require

Critical minerals continue to feature prominently in global policy debates. The energy transition and usage by defence and artificial intelligence industries mean demand for copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt and rare earths is projected to nearly triple by 2030. For emerging market countries rich in critical minerals, this could be a transformative opportunity to secure inclusive benefits for their people, but this will depend on strong governance, fair deals, and new collaboration mechanisms with purchasing countries.  

As part of an ongoing objective to diversify mineral supply chains in order to reduce dependence on China’s processing capacity, G7 leaders this week committed to pursuing “mutually beneficial partnerships based on high-quality standards and transparency” – both among G7 countries and with “like-minded partners.” Notably, while the declaration contains many areas that will require deep collaboration with low- and middle-income producer countries, these countries had limited access to the G7 policy making process—something that will need to shift rapidly in order to secure partnerships that are truly mutually beneficial. Brazil reportedly did not endorse the minerals declaration, highlighting the need for processes more inclusive of producing countries’ perspectives. 

The G7 declaration outlines various measures and commitments, including developing G7 countries’ and their partners’ production and processing capacities, mobilizing finance, coordinating on stockpiling, increasing circularity and recycling, and strengthening standards. International partnerships emerged as a cross-cutting theme.

In particular, the declaration specifically recognizes the importance of partnerships with low- and middle-income producer countries in two contexts. First, by highlighting the need to lift global mining standards across G7 member states and developing country partners. Second, by recognizing the opportunity for emerging market countries to reap economic benefits from recycling and secondary processing of their mining waste, as well as emerging circularity innovations. Meanwhile, a separate G7 statement on international development partnerships highlighted the importance of reliable critical minerals and committed to helping developing countries to “harness the economic potential of critical mineral value creation” with a view to advancing “shared prosperity”. 

Turning these goals from rhetoric into action will require concerted efforts on the part of both G7 and producer country actors. In this briefing, we outline some of the concrete steps that the G7 should take to ensure these emerging strategies contribute to building equitable partnerships and durable supply chains, and some of the risks and opportunities that low- and middle-income producing countries should consider. 

Industrial cooperation and value creation

G7 commitments to support local value creation are important first steps towards advancing more diversified and equitable value chains. The G7 must now work with producer countries to support the development of evidence-based and mineral-specific strategies for how to maximize benefits from the sector. If producer countries are to leverage mineral wealth for development, securing a fair share of revenues - including through robust, fair taxation - is a key foundation. But G7 countries should also go a step further, through support for the rigorous preparation of the most promising value addition projects in emerging markets, including by mobilizing technical and financial assistance to develop capacities where required. G7 support should also recognize existing regional integration plans and avoid pulling countries into fragmented deal-making.

Producer countries should also move proactively to understand how new G7 supply diversification targets will impact their own plans for leveraging the sector. As part of this, they should develop feasibility and cost-benefit assessments to inform value addition planning, including setting production and processing targets. These assessments should comprehensively evaluate the economic, human rights, social and environmental long-term gains and negative impacts of extraction and value addition projects, building on meaningful consultations with affected stakeholders. With these targets and plans, producer countries can pursue more informed and balanced deal-making with buyers.    

Financing and trade 

G7 leaders underscored that raising global mining standards is a key component of mobilizing both development and private finance, and enhancing resilient supply chains – an important acknowledgement of the link between mining governance standards and the investment gap in the sector. G7 leaders also indicated a goal to mobilize multilateral development banks (MDBs) and development partners to design and implement strategies to “lift mining standards”. These efforts should ensure that MDBs provide technical and financial support to strengthen producer country regulatory and enforcement capacity, especially via the MDB Critical Minerals Joint Collaboration Framework announced in April. Development partners engaged in the strategy design process should also include policy expert and civil society networks that have been coordinating to strengthen mining sector standards for decades.

As part of their strategies for attracting investment, producer countries should define national priorities for regulatory reform on mining standards and governance. They should also leverage the finance community’s growing recognition of the importance of equitable benefit sharing for stable investments to call for coordinated action with development and private finance institutions on developing performance targets on benefit sharing in mining project investments, including drawing on investor expectations on benefit sharing issued by the Global Investor Commission on Mining 2030. Recommendations from the Global Council for Responsible Minerals also offer pathways for G7 and partner countries to develop financing frameworks that make responsible mineral projects more bankable by improving the wider conditions for investability, including high standards, more balanced producer country partnerships, prudential treatment, market design, infrastructure, regulatory stability and project preparation.

Consensus was not reached on proposals for a plurilateral agreement, with the statement indicating that various factors and criteria would determine which trade measures are ultimately implemented. G7 member countries should ensure alignment with their own commitments to promote local value creation and mutually beneficial partnerships by adding these factors to the list of evaluation criteria. Producing countries must also be included in trade policy consultations and negotiations. 

Low- and middle- income producer countries should seek a seat at the table and draw on regional institutions—such as the African Minerals Development Centre, the African Development Bank, and the African Legal Support Facility in the case of Africa— to bolster coordination and technical capacity to assess implications, and inform negotiating strategies.  Creating a formal dialogue platform with the G20 and its Critical Minerals Framework workstream would be a first step towards more inclusive – and legitimate- decision-making.

Transparency and traceability

The G7’s emphasis on strong transparency and traceability standards as enablers of stable and reliable mineral supply chains is welcome. Lithium and nickel traceability pilots proposed in the G7 declaration should be co-developed with government and civil society in key countries producing these minerals – both to demonstrate balanced partnership principles and to facilitate meaningful due diligence on environmental, human rights, and integrity risks.

The G7 declaration cited 195 mining projects announced in the past six months, but the scope and standards of these projects is unclear. To implement their commitment to transparency, G7 members should disclose mineral agreements and Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs). Joint analysis by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and NRGI underscores that transparency around mineral partnerships builds the foundation for equitable, well-governed and successful outcomes.

The G7’s adoption of a toolkit to identify risks of forced labour marks the first step towards operationalizing part of their Roadmap to Advance Standards-Based Markets for Critical Minerals. The G7 should work with partner countries, policy experts, and civil society to develop similar guidance on implementing the human rights, local consultation, rule of law, anti-corruption, and environmental standards in the Roadmap. NRGI has proposed standards that could be incorporated in implementation guidelines regarding anti-corruption measures. Importantly, the Roadmap also indicates that G7 countries will collaborate with “international organizations, resource producing nations, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, unions, and civil society to develop criteria which will serve as a basis for G7 and partner countries to align performance-based criteria for standards-based markets”. Such engagement processes should be launched as soon as possible, and gender equity and human rights considerations that are essential to responsible supply chains must no longer be sidelined in G7 discussions.

Stockpiling

G7 stockpiling plans should not be deployed in a way that risks undermining commitments to local value creation and improved operating practices, compounding pressures in some contexts to extract raw materials hastily and at all costs. On the contrary, long-term stockpiling strategies should be crafted in partnership by consumer and producer countries to support their respective ambitions and ensure equitable access to these reserves. 

Recycling

The emphasis on circularity is a necessary step towards mitigating the environmental impacts of mining, and innovations around recovery from alternative and secondary sources highlights a potential economic opportunity for producing countries. As industrialized countries develop these strategies, low- and middle-income countries should seek to further understand the implications of such measures on demand for their mineral resources and processing capacities, in addition to scaling up their own circularity strategies and policy plans. 

Critical Minerals Resilience and Production Alliance

No detailed information is yet available about the reconfigured Critical Minerals Resilience and Production Alliance, but the potential for broader membership should be fully leveraged to widen the scope of consultations and negotiations on G7 plans. NRGI has joined others in calling for G7 governments to leverage the Alliance to build a coherent framework for cooperation with producing countries, including project preparation support, technical assistance, technology and skills transfer, institutional strengthening and investment in enabling shared-use infrastructure, notably power, water, logistics and transport. The Alliance should also leverage the Principles of the UN Secretary–General's Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals as a blueprint to design equitable partnerships.