Following are Secretary-General António Guterre’s message on the launch of the Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals Report, in New York on 11 September:
Today’s report from the Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals is a how-to guide to help generate prosperity and equality alongside clean power. The report makes recommendations on critical minerals, at a crucial time.
We established the Panel in response to calls from developing countries, amid signs that the energy transition could reproduce and amplify inequalities of the past – banishing developing countries to the bottom of value chains to watch others grow rich by exploiting their people and putting their environment in jeopardy.
This report identifies ways to ground the renewables revolution in justice and equity, so that it spurs sustainable development, respects people, protects the environment, and powers prosperity in resource-rich developing countries. It sets out seven Guiding Principles to direct action across the value chain, and five Actionable Recommendations to help put them into practice, and address key gaps in international governance.
As next steps, I have asked the Co-Chairs and Panel to consult and share the report and its recommendations with Member States and other stakeholders ahead of COP29 later this year.
We will bring the UN system together to support implementation of the Panel’s work, safeguarding and advancing human rights, including the rights of Indigenous Peoples, across the critical minerals value chain. Through all this, civil society, young people and Indigenous Peoples must be heard and have a seat at the table.
I thank the panel members for their work, particularly the Co-Chairs, Nozipho Joyce Mxakato-Diseko and Ditte Juul Jørgensen. I commend them for breaking new ground, with a set of principles and recommendations on many complex, contested issues.
Together, let’s work to deliver renewable energy that powers a fairer, more just and more prosperous future for all.