Sibout Nooteboom
Senior Advisor Environmental and Social Assessment
There is an exponential increase in market demand for certain types of minerals. This increase is particularly – but not only - fuelled by the energy transition. The extraction and trade of transition minerals is intensifying new geopolitical tensions and reinforcing long-standing patterns of exploitation and inequality. This rise in demand creates opportunities for low and middle income countries (LMICs) that have rich supplies of these minerals, but it also raises concerns about potential negative social and environmental side-effects in producer countries and especially for the communities involved. In this report, we give the floor to professionals from minerals supply-side countries, many of whom suggest that international initiatives and legislation in producer countries can be improved.
Significant details
The UN Secretary-General’s Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals developed a series of guiding principles and actionable recommendations drawing from existing international norms, commitments, and legal obligations. To implement these principles, a range of actions is proposed, which require finance, institutions and building capacities. Likewise, there is a proliferation of international voluntary sustainability standards and certification systems, as well as directives and regulatory requirements in consumer countries -such as the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, the Battery regulation etc – but there are concerns about effective implementation. In practice, many don’t appear to meet the criteria needed to actually shift the dial towards better practices in the industry, and instead risk rubberstamping the bare minimum. As to producer countries and the steeply increasing demand for critical minerals, increasingly there is reference to underlying challenges related to institutional capacities and governance they face, which, if not being addressed, will not lead to a systemic transition as is urgently needed.