Global Council for Responsible Transition Minerals

Policy initiative

With the acceleration of the green transition towards net-zero, demand for minerals essential to the manufacturing of technologies such as wind mills, solar panels and electric batteries is projected to steeply increase. Geopolitical tensions and lack of international coordination are preventing us from addressing the urgent economic, environmental and societal challenges associated with their global extraction, use and reuse: responsibility of the supply chains, environmental and social impacts of the mining industry, proliferation of norms and risks of weak implementation, obstacles in financing, lack of political awareness, recycling and management of demand etc. The current divisions come at the expense of global multilateral efforts to resolve the issues around the supply of transition minerals and achieve the energy transition.

In this context, the Paris Peace Forum has gathered high-level actors from a diversity of sectors and geographies to form a high-level Global Council for Responsible Transition Minerals. The Council members will use their experience and influence to raise political awareness around the crucial importance of these minerals to reach the Paris Agreement goals, and address the issues around their responsible supply by making global recommendations and proposing collaborative solutions.

The Paris Peace Forum has been committed to further collaboration around the sustainable sourcing of minerals necessary to the green transition since 2022. During its 5^th Edition in November 2022, the Paris Peace Forum launched the initiative “Acting Together for a Responsible Critical Minerals Sector” together with a Call to Action signed by twenty high-level actors from diverse fields relevant to transition minerals.

This Call to Action formed the basis for a coalition that includes the full spectrum of relevant stakeholders (business, civil society, policy), including the European Commission, the International Council of Mining and Metals (ICMM), the Mo Ibrahim Foundation and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Council Members

Kandeh Yumkella

Co-Chair of the Council

Former Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All

Bruno Oberle

Co-Chair of the Council

Former Director of the International Union for Conservation of Nature

Jason Bordoff

Member of the Council

Director and Founder of the Center on Global Energy Policy, University of Columbia

Juan Carlos Jobet

Member of the Council

Former Minister of Mines, Republic of Chile

Connie Hedegaard

Member of the Council

Former EU Commissioner for Climate Action

Bogolo Kenewendo

Member of the Council

Former Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Republic of Botswana

Ma Jun

Member of the Council

Director of the Chinese Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs

Glen Mpufane

Member of the Council

Director Mining at Global Union IndustriALL

Izabella Teixeira

Member of the Council

Co-Chair of the International Resource Panel

Sheila Khama

Member of the Council

Former CEO of De Beers Botswana and non-executive Director, FTSE and NASDAQ

The Global Council members will be guided and assisted in their tasks by a brain trust composed of Special Advisors. The first meeting of the Global Council was held on 10 June 2024 and their first policy recommendations will be made public by the end of the year.

General Mandate of the Council

Assisted by advisors from the Transition Minerals Initiative, the Global Council for Responsible Transition Minerals will:

Consider governance, environmental, economic and social implications associated with the scale of projected demand for transition minerals, from extraction to end-use, especially in relation to strategic competition, resource scarcity and financial constraints that could undermine the achievement of global net-zero objectives;

Review the existing global governance framework on transition minerals to spotlight opportunities for alignment among complementary approaches, amplify the most relevant common principles and identify key governance gaps, in view of fostering resilient and responsible supply chains, minimizing negative impacts on communities and ecosystems, promoting economic opportunities for producing countries and addressing market and policy failures that could hinder global access to transition minerals;

Articulate the range of policy options to balance increasing demand with supply capacities, from promoting technological innovation to increasing resource efficiency, to fostering sustainable consumption models and incentivizing optimization and life cycle extension of transition minerals, reflecting varying political and economic perspectives;

Engage in transparent consultation, including stakeholder consultation on policy options and policy integration, with the goal of gaining a wider and deeper understanding from all relevant actors along the supply chains and beyond; and

Develop regular sets of recommendations, working towards collaborative solutions and building on relevant opportunities to foster political awareness.