Action for Justice and Equity Must Surge Alongside Demand for Minerals Critical to Energy Transition, Secretary-General Tells Meeting at Baku Climate Conference

13 November 2024

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the 2024 UN Climate Change Conference high-level meeting on resourcing the energy transition with justice and equity, in Baku today:

First of all, I want to thank South Africa and the European Union and our co-chairs for the extraordinary work that — in a very limited amount of time — they were able to produce, and to say that we are totally committed — in the context of all of the intergovernmental processes and initiatives we can take — to move forward with all of your recommendations.

Thank you all for joining us today.  We are here to respond to a key challenge:  turning the energy transition towards justice.  The renewables revolution is powering forward, and critical minerals are at its core.

Last year — for the first time — the amount invested in grids and renewables overtook the amount spent on fossil fuels.  Demand for the minerals critical to the transition are expected to surge, as Governments triple global renewables capacity by 2030 — as promised — and phase out fossil fuels.

For developing countries rich in those resources, this is a huge opportunity to generate prosperity, eliminate poverty and to drive sustainable development.  But, too often, this is not the case.  Too often we see the mistakes of the past repeated in a stampede of greed that crushes the poor.

We see a rush for resources, with communities exploited, rights trampled and environments trashed; we see developing countries ground down to the bottom of value chains as others grow wealthy on their resources. And the Panel was established in response to the calls from developing countries for action.

I thank all Panel members for their work, and particularly the Co-Chairs:  Nozipho Joyce Mxakato-Diseko and Ditte Juul Jørgensen.  The report identifies seven voluntary principles and five actionable recommendations to embed justice and equity across critical mineral value chains.

These aim 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.

The United Nations system is coming together to help implement the Panel’s findings.  We will work with Member States and other stakeholders to establish the recommended High-Level Expert Advisory Group.  This will accelerate action on key economic issues, including benefit sharing, value addition and fair trade.

Developing countries will be in the driving seat.  And Indigenous Peoples, local communities, young people, civil society, industry and trade unions will be at the table alongside Governments.

We will also take forward the recommended global traceability, transparency and accountability framework for the entire mineral value chain. This will help to drive responsible production, safeguarding human rights and the environment.

I urge all leaders — in Government, industry and civil society — to join us.  And I look forward to hearing from you today on your plans to implement the Panel’s findings.

As demand for critical energy transition minerals surges, so must action.  Together, let us turn the transition towards justice and equity.

NT4