Countries representing seven of the world’s largest economies have announced an alliance to improve the sustainability of mining minerals essential to decarbonisation. The announcement was made at the COP15 biodiversity summit currently underway in Montreal.
Critical minerals like cobalt, lithium, copper and a slew of rare substances like tellurium are used in many electronics, batteries and renewable energy technologies. One estimate has the demand for these minerals increasing six-fold by 2050. Demand for lithium, used in electric vehicle batteries, is as much as 40 times in the next 20 years.
“There is no energy transition without critical minerals,” , Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, said at the launch event, which was held in the Canada Pavilion showcasing the country’s projects on biodiversity conservation.
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But that mining and processing can also bring environmental impacts, ranging from effects on biodiversity from water depletion and changes in land use to environmental contamination and greenhouse gas emissions. Mining the valuable minerals can also result in dangerous and exploitative working conditions.
The seven members of the alliance – Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the US – aim to avoid these impacts by pushing for better social and environmental governance across critical mineral supply chains.
The includes commitments to develop critical mineral projects while respecting the rights of Indigenous and local communities, reduce mining emissions and restore mine sites to their “natural state” when the mining is finished.
“Protecting and conserving biodiversity must be central to our efforts,” , the deputy assistant secretary for environment at the US State Department, said at the event.
The alliance, along with Canada’s released last week, represents an improvement, says , the minister of the environment for Nunavut, the largest territory in Canada. “Before we start extracting from all over the place, let’s make sure it’s sustainable,” he says. “It impacts us Indigenous people.”
Another factor driving the alliance is China’s dominance of critical mineral mining and processing, which has sparked the US, Canada and Europe to try to secure their own green technology supply, says at Arizona State University.
China, which holds the COP15 presidency this year, was not mentioned at the press event. Just across the conference hall at the “China Pavilion”, daily events have highlighted Chinese projects on biodiversity conservation throughout COP15.
at the Wilson Center, a US think tank, says such agreements between friendly governments are nice, but they require engagement with governments and companies in producing regions to be effective.
It also wasn’t clear how the alliance will address mining activities of companies from member countries acting in other places, such as Canadian mining company Belo Sun. The company’s planned gold mine in the Brazilian Amazon was protested by Indigenous and other activists outside the Royal Bank of Canada in Montreal last week.
Wilkinson said the alliance is open to any country willing to commit to high social and environmental standards, and points out the size of the market represented by the alliance should have a “forcing function” on non-members. “If you are a country that actually has critical mineral resources, and you want to sell it to the United Kingdom, or to Japan or to Canada, you need to respect those principles,” he said.
