Sustainability Analysis 2:
Critical minerals governance in the global energy transition
30 April 2025
There is an exponential increase in market demand for certain types of minerals. This increase is particularly – but not only – spurred 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.
The underlying case reports will be published shortly.
Sustainability Analysis 1:
Improving governmental capacity to address sustainability dilemmas in global value chains
7 June 2024
How can policymakers develop more consistent and coherent policies to achieve the SDGs domestically, while taking responsibility for cross-border effects and helping to accelerate sustainable development in low- and middle-income countries? With this first Sustainability Analysis, the NCEA intends to offer a new governance perspective on policymakers’ dilemmas.
Power, knowledge, leadership
The analysis considers governance as the interacting influence of all actors on transitions. It examines power, knowledge, and leadership in the relationships between parliament, policy areas, government agencies, representatives of the private sector, civil society organisations, and citizens. Are these actors jointly capable of making the available knowledge on sustainable development dilemmas meaningful for action?
Application: the Netherlands
In the last chapter, the analysis is applied to the Netherlands. It shows how the Netherlands tries to contribute to global transitions to sustainable development, taking the interest of other countries – in particular vulnerable countries – into consideration. It describes a set of context-specific arrangements to improve governmental capacity for addressing sustainability dilemmas.
Sustainability Analysis (SusAn) 1, published on 7 June 2024, outlines a method to assess the capability of a country to contribute to global transitions to sustainable development. It has a chapter applying this method to the Netherlands. First reactions to this SusAn report made the NCEA decide to write a Dutch version of the SusAn, with more details on how to fit recommendations in the Dutch context. You can find this additional case report below in Dutch and English.
