02 November 2022
More than 230 organisations call on COP leaders to urgently ensure the exploitation of transition minerals doesn’t undermine a just and equitable energy transition
The world needs to stop burning fossil fuels. Climate change is already happening and to prevent the worst impacts we must accelerate the just transition to cleaner, safer energy.
In moving to renewable energy technologies, the world will be swapping reliance on one set of natural resources for another. An estimated sixfold increase in the production of minerals such as cobalt, lithium, nickel and copper will be required to help produce, transport, store and use electricity produced by cleaner sources such as wind, water and sun.
But the extraction of minerals is already beset by corruption and opacity, and mining often takes place at great cost to the health and livelihoods of local people. Research indicates that women and girls, Indigenous peoples and environmental defenders are disproportionately harmed by mining. Local communities are often excluded from decision-making and see little economic benefit from extraction. The sector is also environmentally damaging and contributes significantly to climate change.
Fierce competition, demand and pursuit of profit in the transition mineral rush will increase pressure on producing countries to “fast-track” licensing and open up mining in sensitive and high risk areas. This leaves the process open to corruption and worsens human rights and environmental abuses, in particular pollution and contamination of water and land gravely affecting the health of workers and surrounding populations. These impacts are already felt most by indigenous and land-based communities on the front lines of extraction.
Mining for transition minerals which is marred by poor governance, corruption, overconsumption and little care for people and the planet will only slow climate action.
Huge amounts of resources will be flowing into the energy sources of the future. It is vital that the emerging transition minerals market is well-regulated, transparent, just and equitable, and does not replicate the exploitation and injustices of the past. This requires an urgent coordinated effort to transform the way minerals are extracted and consumed.
COP27 is an important moment for the international community to initiate a real shift in the way minerals are extracted and used, and secure binding commitments to tackle climate change. Failing to put people at the centre of the required energy transition will result in it being both inadequate to tackle the climate crisis, and unjust for the most vulnerable people in the world.
To ensure responsible extraction, sourcing and processing of transition minerals that contribute to a successful energy transition, governments, companies, international institutions and investors must:
Centre people & planet:
- Base the decision to extract on a holistic assessment of the true costs and benefits of minerals extraction and processing. This goes beyond mineral sales proceeds, to look at the impact on people, the environment, biodiversity and the climate.
- Respect mining-exclusion zones to protect people and the environment in high risk areas.
- Ensure meaningful consultation and participation for all communities affected by mining. Indigenous peoples’ Free, Prior and Informed Consent must be prioritised and respected, including the right to give or withhold consent as aligned with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
- Only extract minerals in line with the most rigorous international human rights and environmental standards through meaningful, transparent and gender-responsive mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence. Guarantee effective, independent monitoring of mitigation and corrective measures.
- Support a global moratorium on deep sea mining until adequate scientific research is undertaken to understand the impacts on deep sea biodiversity, and ensure decision-making at international level – including by the International Seabed Authority, is transparent, accountable, inclusive and participatory.
- Develop and prioritise mining approaches that minimise social, environmental and climate impacts. This includes cooperating to design circular solutions and technologies that reduce the overall consumption of transition minerals, increase reuse, and reduce the carbon footprint of the sector.
Strengthen governance & anti-corruption:
- Adopt and champion the comprehensive disclosure of contracts and licences (including annexes), project-level payments to governments by mining companies and commodity traders, beneficial ownership information, and transparency in the procurement of goods and services. The EITI Standard is a starting point to ensure transparency in mineral extraction.
- Explicitly identify and mitigate corruption risks throughout all activities and operations, with specific attention paid to high risk processes such as the award of licences, permits and approvals, procurement, commodity sales and trading, and state-owned companies. The OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals is a starting point to initiate this work.
- Implement Integrity Due Diligence, including fit and proper person criteria, to all participants in the mineral supply chain.
- Implement legal frameworks to protect the rights of activists, whistle-blowers, human rights and land defenders, journalists and independent media, and dismantle laws and policies that hinder free civil society and media.
Ensure a globally equitable transition:
- Prevent political and business elites from capturing transition minerals for personal profit. This lowers the benefit to the citizens, deepens inequalities, and increases the costs of transition minerals.
- Implement transparent and equitable proceeds and tax management, including planning for proceeds volatility. Allocate proceeds to sustainable development projects that enable a just transition and economic diversification and ensure that frontline communities – particularly women – see benefits from mining.
- Ensure transition minerals drive a truly global energy transition for all countries, not just developed countries. This includes ensuring global support and investment to enable host countries to develop stronger economies and employment, for example through in-country processing of transition minerals and local procurement.
- Prioritise policies and investments aimed at reducing consumption, including increasing funding and resources for public transport, energy efficiency and other demand reduction initiatives, and through investing in materials recycling and reuse.
- Create and strengthen safe global, national and local spaces where people can engage meaningfully on energy transition policy and legislation, with particular attention given to spaces for traditionally marginalised groups such as women and gender minorities, Indigenous peoples, ethnic minorities and young people.
Signatory organisations:
| Publish What You Pay | Global/United Kingdom |
| Business & Human Rights Resource Centre | Global/United Kingdom |
| Deep Sea Mining Campaign | Global |
| Earthjustice | Global/United States |
| EarthRights International | Global/United States |
| Earthworks | Global/United States |
| Environmental Defender Law Center | Global/United States |
| Global Witness | Global/United Kingdom |
| Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) | Global/US |
| Open Contracting Partnership | Global/US |
| Open Society Foundations | Global |
| Oxfam | Global |
| Society for Threatened Peoples | Global/Switzerland |
| The Future We Need | Global |
| Transparency International Secretariat | Global/Germany |
| African Climate Foundation | Africa |
| Institut Panos Afrique de l’Ouest | Africa/Senegal |
| PACJA | Africa/Senegal |
| Tax Justice Network Africa | Africa |
| Albanian Center for development and Integration | Albania |
| Centre for Transparency and Freedom of Information | Albania |
| Legisladores x el Ambiente ALC | Argentina |
| Observatorio Petrolero Sur | Argentina |
| Jubilee Australia Research Centre | Australia |
| Nook Studios | Australia |
| PWYP Australia | Australia |
| SJ Around the Bay | Australia |
| Transparency International Australia | Australia |
| “Constitution” Researches Foundation | Azerbaijan |
| “Young Leaders” Education-Training and Development Publc Union | Azerbaijan |
| Agricultural industrial engineers PU | Azerbaijan |
| Care for the elderlu intelectuals PU | Azerbaijan |
| Democracy Monitor PU | Azerbaijan |
| Fund “Constitution” Researches Foundation | Azerbaijan |
| Oil Workers’ Rights Protection Organization Public Union | Azerbaijan |
| Social Strategicall Recerh and Analiticall Investigation Public Union | Azerbaijan |
| Young Power in Social Action (YPSA) | Bangladesh |
| Fundacion Jubileo | Bolivia |
| Instituto Brasileiro de Análises Sociais e Econômicas (Ibase) | Brazil |
| Instituto Talanoa | Brazil |
| ABDER-BIO-DEV | Burkina Faso |
| Coalition Mine’Alert PCQVP-BF | Burkina Faso |
| PCQVP Burkina Faso | Burkina Faso |
| Plateforme Tenures foncière, forestière, genre et changement climatique (TENFOREST) | Burkina Faso |
| AGAGES MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS | Cameroun |
| CAFAGB (CELLULE ASSOCIATIVE DES FEMMES ACTIVES POUR LA GOUVERNANCE LES DROITS HUMAINS ET LE BIEN-ETRE | Cameroun |
| CRADEC | Cameroun |
| Engineers Without Borders Canada | Canada |
| MiningWatch Canada | Canada |
| CIEDD-RCA | Central African Republic |
| Femme et Environnement “BG” | Central African Republic |
| Fundación Tantí | Chile |
| Fundación Terram | Chile |
| ABC COLOMBIA- SOMOS TERRITORIO | Colombia |
| Corporación Conciudadanía | Colombia |
| Fundación Avina | Colombia |
| Fundación Foro Nacional por Colombia | Colombia |
| Fundación Foro Nacional por Colombia – Capítulo suroccidente | Colombia |
| Mesa de Sociedad Civil para la Transparencia en las Industrias Extractivas | Colombia |
| Pastoral Social Regional Suroriente Colombiano | Colombia |
| Transparencia por Colombia | Colombia |
| ACAT-Congo | Congo Republic |
| PCQVP Congo | Congo Republic |
| Rencontre pour la Paix et les Droits de l’Homme (RPDH) | Congo Republic |
| ASADHO | Democratic Republic of Congo |
| Centre National d’appui au développement et à la participation populaire , CENADEP | Democratic Republic of Congo |
| Grupo FARO | Ecuador |
| CEID_GE | Equatorial Guinea |
| International Business and Economic Development Center | Georgia |
| Heinrich-Böll Foundation | Germany |
| Transparency International Deutschland e.V. | Germany |
| Fundación Prosperiti Guatecivica | Guatemala |
| Coordinación de ONG y Cooperativas CONGCOOP | Guatemala |
| Coligação Publicar o Que Você Paga | Guiné-Bissau |
| Action Mines Guinée | Guinea |
| Association Guinéenne pour la Transparence | Guinea |
| CECIDE | Guinea |
| Confédération Nationale des Travailleurs de Guinée | Guinea |
| Féderation Syndicale Professionnelle de Mines, Carrieres, Industries Chimiques et Assimilées- FSPMCICA – CNTG | Guinea |
| Mohamed Cissé | Guinea |
| Observatoire Guinéen des Mines et Métaux (OGMM) | Guinea |
| PCQVP Guinée | Guinea |
| Anchalik Surakshya Committee | India |
| ENVIRONICS TRUST | India |
| Goa Foundation | India |
| Mineral Inheritors Rights Association | India |
| FKPMR (Forum Komunikasi Pemuka Masyarakat Riau / Communication Forum of Riau Community Leader) | Indonesia |
| Indonesian Center for Environmental Law | Indonesia |
| Institute For Ecologocal Study (INFESt) | Indonesia |
| Laili Khairnur | Indonesia |
| Lembaga Pemberdayaan dan Aksi Demokrasi (LPAD) Riau | Indonesia |
| POKJA 30 | Indonesia |
| PWYP Indonesia | Indonesia |
| Solidaritas Masyarakat untuk Transparansi Nusa Tenggara Barat (SOMASI-NTB) | Indonesia |
| Indonesian Parliamentary Center | Indonesia |
| Lembaga studi dan bantuan hukum (LSBH) NTB | Indonesia |
| PATTIRO SERANG BANTEN | Indonesia |
| Perkumpulan PADI Indonesia | Indonesia |
| Haw Organization for Education | Iraq |
| Iraqi Individual Development Council | Iraq |
| The Iraqi Reconstruction Institute | Iraq |
| Ther Development Center | Iraq |
| Woman for Supporting Woman Association | Iraq |
| جمعية الانبثاق للتنمية والتطوير الاقتصادي | Iraq |
| مؤسسه آشور للتنميه وحقوق الإنسان | Iraq |
| مجلس تنمية وتطوير الفرد العراقي | Iraq |
| معهد أكد الثقافي | Iraq |
| منظمة أوان للتوعية وتنمية القدرات | Iraq |
| منظمة هناالشباب | Iraq |
| منظمه سند البصره لحقوق الانسان | Iraq |
| منظمه مبدعون للتنميه | Iraq |
| Humanitarian Alkhair organization | Iraq |
| Aide, Assistance et Developpement Communautaire de Côte d’Ivoire (ADC-CI) | Ivory Coast |
| Initiative for Youth | Ivory Coast |
| SOCIAL JUSTICE | Ivory Coast |
| Civil Expertise | Kazakhstan |
| Echo Public Association | Kazakhstan |
| Liberty | Kazakhstan |
| ОО Комитет по общественному контролю за исполнением государственных программ на местном уровне | Kazakhstan |
| Transparency International Kenya | Kenya |
| Kenya Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas | Kenya |
| Kuwait Transparency Society | Kuwait |
| ОФ Кожой Серек | Kyrgyzstan |
| Human Development Center “Tree of Life” | Kyrgyzstan |
| Diaries of the Ocean | Lebanon |
| I’mpossible | Lebanon |
| The Lebanese Oil and Gas Initiative | Lebanon |
| OBBA | Lebanon |
| Organization for Petroleum & Energy Sustainability OPES | Lebanon |
| Alliance Voahary Gasy | Madagascar |
| Catholic Relief Services | Madagascar |
| KMF/CNOE – Education des citoyens | Madagascar |
| PCQVP Madagascar | Madagascar |
| Transparency International – Initiative Madagascar | Madagascar |
| Natural Resources Justice Network | Malawi |
| PWYP Malawi (Nyika Institute) | Malawi |
| FDS Fondation pour le Développement au Sahel | Mali |
| ONG Guamina | Mali |
| PCQVP-Mali | Mali |
| Réseau pour le Développement Local et ‘l’Autopromotion de la Famille RDL/AFEF | Mali |
| SECO-ONG/Mali | Mali |
| Initiative Africaine pour le Développement Intégré au Sahel IADIS | Mali |
| Coalition Mauritanienne PCQVP | Mauritania |
| ONG Mer Bleue | Mauritania |
| CartoCrítica. Investigación, mapas y datos para la sociedad civil | Mexico |
| Climate Finance Group for Latin America and the Caribbean | Mexico |
| Engenera, A.C | Mexico |
| Tsikini | Mexico |
| Open Society Forum Mongolia | Mongolia |
| Steps Without borders NGO | Mongolia |
| Монголын Байгаль Эхийн Аврал Сан төрийн бус байгууллага | Mongolia |
| ТӨЛСӨН,АВСАНАА НИЙТЭЛ(ТАН) | Моngolia |
| Ховдын толь сонин ТББ | Mongolia |
| Project HEARD | Netherlands |
| APAISE-NIGER | Niger |
| Réseau de la Jeunesse Nigérienne sur le Changement Climatique RJNCC | Niger |
| ROTAB | Niger |
| Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ) | Nigeria |
| New Apostolic Centre for Development (NCD) | Nigeria |
| Spaces for Change | Nigeria |
| African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development (Centre LSD) | Nigeria |
| Transparency International Norway | Norway |
| CooperAccion | Peru |
| Derecho, Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (DAR) | Peru |
| Foro Ecológico del Perú | Peru |
| Grupo Propuesta Ciudadana | Peru |
| Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM) | Philippines |
| Bantay Kita, Inc. (PWYP Philippines) | Philippines |
| Center for Energy,Ecology and Development (CEED Philippines) | Philippines |
| Friends of the Earth Scotland | Scotland |
| ACCES | Senegal |
| AJTREX | Senegal |
| APVM/Sahel Lutte contre les changements climatiques au Sahel | Senegal |
| ARTICLE 19 WEST AFRICA | Senegal |
| ASPRODDEL / Kédougou | Senegal |
| CQVP Sénégal | Senegal |
| FAPD | Senegal |
| GIPS/WAR | Senegal |
| Goree Institute | Senegal |
| ONDH | Senegal |
| Osidea | Senegal |
| Réseau Ouest Africain des Jeunes Femmes Leaders (ROAJELF/SENEGAL) | Senegal |
| Observatoire de Suivi des Indicateurs de Développement Économique en Afrique (OSIDEA) | Senegal |
| MACUA (Mining affected communities united in action) | South Africa |
| Civil Society Coalition on Natural Resources | South Sudan |
| Stichting Projekta | Suriname |
| Public Eye | Switzerland |
| Public Organisation “Zanoni Sharq” | Tajikistan |
| Общественная организация “Анбоз” (ранее “Лочвар”) | Tajikistan |
| ACTIONS FOR DEMOCRACY AND LOCAL GOVERNANCE (ADLG) | Tanzania |
| Organisation Tchadienne Anti-Corruption (OTAC) | Tchad |
| ONG ACOMB | Togo |
| PCQVP Togo | Togo |
| Association Tunisienne de Droit du Développement | Tunisia |
| ASSOCIATION TUNISIENNE DES CONTROLEURS PUBLICS | Tunisia |
| ATGL | Tunisia |
| Tunisian network for transparency in energy and mining | Tunisia |
| Tunisie Écologie | Tunisia |
| الشبكة التونسية للشفافية في الطاقة والمناجم | Tunisia |
| مركز المواطنة والديمقراطية | Tunisia |
| Centre for Citizens Conserving Environment & Management (CECIC) | Uganda |
| Agency for Development and Cooperation | Ukraine |
| Energy Transparency Association | Ukraine |
| Local economic development agency of Yavoriv dictrict | Ukraine |
| NGO NEW Energy | Ukraine |
| Poltava branch of Public Service of Ukraine | Ukraine |
| DiXi Group | Ukraine |
| NGO FLORA | Ukraine |
| Донецька обласна Г О Народний контроль | Ukraine |
| London Mining Network | United Kingdom |
| Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID) | United Kingdom |
| Uplift | United Kingdom |
| Bank Information Center | United States |
| Fridays for Future U.S. | United States |
| Friends of the Earth United States | United States |
| Great Basin Resource Watch | United States |
| PWYP – US | United States |
| PanNature | Vietnam |
| All Girls Foundation for Development | Yemen |
| الجمعية التونسية للبيئة والطبيعة بقابس | Yemen |
| الجمعية التونسية للعدالة البيئية و الصحية بالرديف | Yemen |
| المنتدى الاجماعي الديمقراطي | Yemen |
| تحالف الشفافية في الصناعات الاستخراجية- اليمن | Yemen |
| جمعية الحوض المنجمي للاستثمار و التنمية | Yemen |
| جمعية الرقي المدني – عضو الشبكة التونسية للشفافية في الطاقة والمناجم | Yemen |
| جمعية حماية البيئة بذهيبة | Yemen |
| جمعية مسار للتنمية | Yemen |
| جنوبيات من اجل السلام | Yemen |
| Felix Consulting | Yemen |
| Studies & Economic Media Center | Yemen |
| Development Education Community Project | Zambia |
| Transparency International Zambia | Zambia |
| PWYP Zimbabwe | Zimbabwe |