Support grows for COP30 ‘just transition’ talks to address critical minerals

Developing countries and climate campaigners are pushing for governments to agree that the production of minerals crucial for tackling climate change should be included in the official definition of “just transition” at the COP30 climate talks.

The G77+China umbrella group of developing countries is calling for critical minerals and access to energy to fall within the scope of the Just Transition Work Programme (JTWP) at the UN climate negotiations and any advice-sharing mechanism that may emerge from COP30 in Brazil in November.

“We see critical minerals as being one of the priorities that we have been trying to address when we look into the just energy transition,” said Egyptian negotiator Khaled Hashem, the G77 group’s lead on this issue, adding that mineral production presents “challenges and opportunities” for developing countries.

Raw materials like copper, cobalt, lithium and nickel are key to green technology like electric vehicle batteries and wind turbines, with large reserves found in developing countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chile and Indonesia.

These countries say they want to maximise the benefits of producing minerals and metals for the clean economy – by creating local jobs with high wages, revenues for the government and domestic processing industries – while minimising potential downsides like environmental degradation caused by mining and abuses of workers’ rights.

‘Whole economy’ approach

The concept of “just transition” emerged from labour union movements and has traditionally focused mainly on ensuring that workers in polluting industries, including fossil fuel extraction and power production, and their communities are treated fairly as those jobs disappear.

Hashem said this aspect is important. But, since the launch of the Just Transition Work Programme under the UN climate talks two years ago, developing countries have moved beyond this narrow concept to talk about broader transition issues such as critical minerals, energy access and energy poverty.

Hashem said developing countries are united on this approach, adding that developed-country stances would become clearer at a dialogue taking place in the Ethiopian city of Addis Ababa during UN climate week in early September – but added that he didn’t expect much resistance.

Antonio Hill, an advisor with the Natural Resource Governance Institute, supports the push for COP30 to recognise critical minerals as a key element of the just transition.

Dialogues between governments have also considered how to adapt to climate change in an equitable way, he said. “So we have already gone beyond the green jobs and the workforce, and we are now discussing broader just transitions that encompass the whole of an economy,” he explained.

In particular, the energy transition expert wants this theme to be connected to the COP28 agreement to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030 – as renewables growth is “what’s behind the rush on critical minerals at the moment”.

This demand, he said, is not particularly controversial, but there is a risk it could be used as leverage in other negotiations at COP30. “I can imagine countries saying ‘well, we’re not going to support this unless…’ – fill in the blank,” he said. Some nations might also argue that critical minerals should be discussed somewhere other than the climate talks, he warned.

Hill said governments at COP30 should agree to support stronger global governance of transition minerals to ensure fair trade and address the social and environmental impacts of their extraction.

Call for new mechanism at COP30

Campaigners and some governments are pushing for a decision at COP30 to set up a new just transition body to advise, coordinate and accelerate action on the issue, which would potentially be called the “Belém Action Mechanism”.

Anabella Rosemberg, senior advisor on just transition at Climate Action Network International, which represents hundreds of NGOs working on climate issues, said such a mechanism “can become an anchor of fairness in the global climate transition”, turning the concept of just transition “from rhetoric into a real architecture” at COP30.

“If it is done soon and right, it will provide countries with the support and accountability needed to ensure that workers and communities are at the centre – and knock down the barriers countries face to change their economies,” Rosemberg added.

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