"UN-led panel aims to tackle abuses linked to mining for ‘critical minerals’", 26 April 2024

"A UN-led panel of nearly 100 countries is to draw up new guidelines to prevent some of the environmental damage and human rights abuses associated with mining for “critical minerals”.

Mining for some of the key raw materials used in low-carbon technology, such as solar panels and electric vehicles, has been associated with human rights abuses, child labour and violence, as well as grave environmental damage.

Cobalt mining, for instance, has led to an upsurge in illegal labour and human rights violations, particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Copper mining has also led to severe pollution and environmental damage in some regions.

The global supply chain for other critical minerals, such as the rare earths needed for renewable energy production, is also increasingly a matter of concern for governments as they shift their economies to a low-carbon footing...

The guidelines drawn up by the panel will only be voluntary and are likely to rely heavily on big companies policing their own supply chains.

Laura Kelly, the head of sustainable markets at the International Institute for Environment and Development thinktank, said: “This is a good first step because at the moment, each country is doing its own thing in the rush to lock in access to critical minerals.

“But the fact that these will only be voluntary principles means there’ll be no enforcement mechanism for whatever guidelines are developed. In the end, voluntary guidelines are only as good as those willing to commit to them.”

She also noted that there was to be only limited input from Indigenous people, and that local people’s views must be taken into account..."