Certain minerals and elements, including cobalt, copper, lithium and nickel, are crucial for the manufacture of renewable energy technologies, including electric vehicles and solar panels. However, the extraction and processing of those minerals often takes place in developing countries, far from public scrutiny and without consent from local communities, which can be left with the burden of pollution but little economic benefit. Key stakeholders at the ongoing U.N. climate meeting, COP29, are pushing for greater transparency, arguing for the need to ensure local environments are protected and economies improved along the critical minerals supply chain. Efforts for a binding global treaty on traceability for critical minerals was first launched by the Colombian government on the sidelines of the recent U.N. Biodiversity Conference in Cali, Colombia. The goal is to ensure a global pact is ready to be signed by November 2025 when the next U.N. climate talks meet in Belém, Brazil. “We see a rush for resources, with communities exploited, rights trampled, and environments trashed. Too often, we see the mistakes of the past repeated in a stampede of greed that crushes the poor,” said U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres while calling for the world to enact stricter rules for those involved in the value chain for critical minerals. “The aim is to empower communities, create accountability and ensure that clean energy drives equitable and resilient growth. That includes advancing efforts to ensure maximum value is added in resource-rich developing countries,” Guterres added. At the 2023 U.N. climate meeting, the global community set a goal to triple the…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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