"UN Guidance for Action on Critical Energy Transition Minerals", June 2025

The "UN Guidance for Action on Critical Energy Transition Minerals" ... prepared by the UN Secretary-General's Working Group on Transforming the Extractive Industries for Sustainable Development ... aims to promote collective action and assist UN Member States in implementing the seven Guiding Principles and five Actionable Recommendations proposed by the UN Secretary-General’s Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals. The Panel’s main goal was to develop global, common, and voluntary principles to ensure that the international energy transition is both fair and sustainable, allowing mineral-producing countries to gain significant social and economic benefits from their mineral resources and supply chains. The document specifically discusses how critical minerals—such as copper, cobalt, nickel, lithium, graphite, and rare earth elements, which are essential for electric vehicles, battery storage, solar panels, and wind turbines—can be responsibly managed throughout their lifecycle.

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