On 20-21 August, the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General’s Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals held its last in-person meeting in Nairobi at the UN Environmental Programme Headquarters.

The meeting focused on developing a short list of actionable recommendations to accompany a set of voluntary principles on issues key to the panel aims of “building trust between governments, communities and industry, enhancing transparency and investment, and ensuring a just and equitable management of sustainable, responsible, and reliable value chains for terrestrial critical energy transition minerals.”

The Nairobi meeting followed a series of virtual discussions with civil society and Indigenous rights holders, industry, and artisanal and small-scale miners, convened by Panel Co-Chairs  Ambassador Nozipho Joyce Mxakato-Diseko of South Africa and Ms. Ditte Juul Jørgensen, Director-General for Energy of the European Commission. These discussions and input received through a July UN-hosted written submissions period informed panel members and their input on the draft principles and recommendations.

The panel began its work in April 2024 and will finalize its report for the Secretary-General in early September for expected publication on the 11^th of September 2024.

While we do not have control over the final panel report, we hope that our input has contributed to bringing the experience and insights across all IRMA sectors into the principles and actionable recommendations. We appreciate all who took valuable time to submit comments and recommendations to inform the work of the panel.

Look for the final report to be posted soon in our social media feeds and on the UN Secretary-General’s Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals Website.