Embedding Transition Minerals Governance in COP30 Outcomes: Prospects and Possibilities (COP30)

With more than half of the world’s energy transition mineral reserves located on or near the lands of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, the race to secure these resources carries serious implications for these groups. Under a net-zero emissions scenario, the combined market demand for key minerals – including copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, and the rare earth elements – is expected to more than double by 2040. The intensified competition for critical minerals is also fueling efforts to secure national economic benefits and equitable benefit-sharing arrangements.

Resource-rich nations are seeking to leverage their mineral wealth for economic development, job creation, and improved living standards. This necessitates robust frameworks to ensure that the extraction and processing of these minerals contribute meaningfully to local communities and the broader national economy, thereby avoiding the historical pitfalls of the resource curse. The drive for just transitions, therefore, extends beyond environmental sustainability and emissions reductions to encompass social equity and economic justice in the critical minerals supply chain.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conferences of the Parties (COP) are facing increasing calls to recognize the responsible management of critical transition minerals as part of mitigation and just transition commitments. Some Parties and Party Groupings are calling on the Just Transition Working Group to address issues of equitable benefit-sharing, local value addition, and enhanced social and environmental protections.

It is within this context that this session will reinforce the importance of COP30 embedding mechanisms to safeguard rights in the extraction of critical transition minerals and across the entire value chain. 

Speakers include NRGI's Nafi Quarshie and Melissa Marengo, with additional participants to be confirmed.

This event will take place at the Ford Foundation Pavilion.

Summary of insights

Her remarks

On behalf of NRGI, I would like to thank you for taking the time to attend this important event and participate in the discussions.

We’ve come together to confront one of the defining challenges and opportunities of our time: how to govern the surge in demand for transition minerals in ways that advance, rather than undermine, a just and sustainable energy future.

Across the world, demand for these minerals is skyrocketing. The International Energy Agency projects a fourfold increase by 2040, and for some materials, as much as a thirtyfold increase. They are the backbone of the technologies that will power our future: batteries, solar panels, and wind turbines. Yet the governance of these minerals, along with their human, environmental, and equity dimensions, has remained mainly in the shadows of global climate discussions. That silence must end in Belém.

Geopolitical tensions over access and control are already intensifying. While global powers compete for supply, many producing countries in the Global South face a stark paradox. The minerals beneath their soil are essential to meeting the Paris goals, but without good governance, they risk fueling new inequalities, corruption, and environmental harm.

There are, however, glimmers of progress. At multiple levels, national, regional and multilateral efforts are taking shape to ensure that the energy transition does not replicate the injustices of the fossil fuel era. The UN Secretary-General’s Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals, to which NRGI contributed alongside the Climate Action Network, laid out a vision rooted in justice, equity, and transparency. Its recommendations, presented at COP29, marked a turning point.

Since then, momentum has only grown. From the African Union’s Green Minerals Strategy to calls from leaders like President Lula , who reminded us that “it is impossible to discuss energy transition without talking about critical minerals,” the message is clear: mineral governance must move to the center of COP30 outcomes.

As NRGI, we believe the path forward hinges on three crucial actions:

1. Acknowledge the challenge.  At COP30, Parties must recognize that scaling up mineral production responsibly is essential to achieving the Paris goals not a side issue.
2. Endorse global principles. COP30 should welcome the UN Secretary-General’s Guiding Principles on Critical Minerals to promote transparency, equity, and sustainability across value chains.
3. Support inclusive governance. Above all, international cooperation must center the priorities and perspectives of Global South producers and affected communities.

If we can embed these principles into COP30 outcomes, we can transform transition minerals from a potential source of division into a foundation for shared prosperity and a truly just transition.

Thank you.