This week, the United Nations Secretary-General (UNSG)’s Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals is meeting in Nairobi to finalize a set of global principles to guide companies and governments in advancing a just and equitable transition to renewable energy.
In July, Inclusive Development International joined more than 270 other civil society groups in endorsing a set of recommendations to the panel, developed collaboratively by Indigenous Peoples groups, unions and labor activists, and climate, environmental justice, child rights and human rights organizations. The recommendations stress the importance of ensuring human rights and environmental protections in the mineral supply chain as demand for key minerals used in clean energy technologies ramps up, while also working to constrain that demand by reducing energy overconsumption and enabling mineral recycling and reuse.
Read the recommendations here.
Unfortunately, the Secretary General’s panel is missing a key stakeholder: Communities directly impacted by transition mineral mining and processing. These are the people who see their land, livelihoods, health and rights taken in the name of tackling the climate crisis, and who rarely derive their fair share of benefits from these projects. The views of these frontline communities—about the environmental and social standards that affect them, and about what constitutes a just and sustainable energy transition—are vital if the panel is to meet its objective of “leaving no one and no place behind”.
We believe that it’s crucial that the panel’s work reflects the voices and concerns of those communities, so Inclusive Development International joined with other civil society organizations and affected people to create a briefing document that provides a snapshot of their concerns and demands. It was delivered directly to panel members in Nairobi.
Read the briefing document here.
The briefing provides a snapshot of some of the concerns of community members affected by critical energy transition minerals (lithium, nickel and bauxite) mining and processing in Argentina, Indonesia and Guinea. We urge the Panel members to center these and other crucial voices of affected communities in their deliberations, and ensure they are reflected in the principles and report to the UN General Assembly in September 2024.
The briefing is a collaborative project of Inclusive Development International, Recourse, Trend Asia and FARN Argentina.