7th Meeting of the Global Council on Responsible Transition Minerals

11 September 2025 (online)

The Geopolitical Race for Minerals Meets a Governance Gap

The meeting opened with a keynote by Justin Vaïsse, Director General of the Paris Peace Forum, which led to a discussion among Council members on the current context and recent developments in the global transition minerals sector.

Recent intensification of the race for minerals

Transition minerals are more than ever at the center of international policy debates, from governments core policies to NGOs and companies. While most actors approach the issue through a national lens, seeking to secure their own minerals supply, the Council’s added value is to place collective interests at the forefront. Fragmented strategies based solely on securing supply cannot, on their own, deliver a fair and sustainable energy transition, which requires coordinated global action to manage the scramble for resources.

Recent global developments illustrate these rising tensions. In June 2025, the G7 Critical Minerals Action Plan was released, laying down three key priorities: establishing standards-based markets, accelerating finance mobilization, and promoting innovation. At the same time, new bilateral deals for mineral security are proliferating, including the US–Pakistan Trade Deal, US–Ukraine Critical Minerals Fund, Canada–Germany Agreement, and Saudi Arabia–India critical minerals partnership, while the EU is rolling out its Critical Raw Materials Act and its 47 strategic projects to strengthen European production capacities and enhance supply security. Members also highlighted potential disruptions emerging from deep-sea mining. US’s acceleration of deep-sea mining and Bahrain’s decision to sponsor deep-sea mining firm Impossible Metals, were cited as factors that could fundamentally alter global mineral supply and governance dynamics. These proliferating resource deals and policies aim to secure supply, but they also highlight the need for stronger, fairer governance to avoid reproducing the extractive inequalities of the past scramble for oil and gas.

The rapidly evolving geopolitical landscape has implications for coordinated mineral governance. The framing of transition minerals debates as national security issues, particularly in the US, was again recognized as a factor that could undermine global cooperation to achieve energy transition and development goals. Weak governance frameworks and institutions were highlighted as a challenge to address fragmentation, especially in Africa, where continent-wide enforceable systems are limited, and where compliance often relies on voluntary coordination rather than binding legal mechanisms.

Role of the Global Council and alignment with other fora

Against this background, the Council remains highly relevant in its role of pushing for norms and rules that protect collective interests, environmental standards, and peace. The Global Council’s seven key recommendations published in November 2024 offer a unique opportunity to move beyond these tensions. In nearly a year, significant steps forward have been made in some of the areas of action identified by the Global Council:

• Global Council’s Recommendation 1 to integrate climate and minerals multilateral strategies is reflected in initiatives aiming at addressing transition minerals within climate negotiations.

• Global Council’s Recommendation 2 to establish an international agreement on the management of mineral resources is all the more timely given the current context, which has seen calls from various stakeholders for better international governance of minerals. IEA's Executive Director Dr Fatih Birol, in a recent op-ed, strongly advocates for international cooperation under the leadership of the IEA. Colombia is developing a proposal for a treaty, through a draft Resolution expected to be presented at UNEA-7. Others support the idea of an International Minerals Agency, including IRP co-chairs.

• Global Council’s Recommendation 3 to establish an interoperable data repository has resonated among diverse actors. Partners organizations are taking this forward with a project planned for rollout next year, with a pre-launch possibly taking place at the Paris Peace Forum 8^th edition.

  
  

Global Council members highlighted the importance of aligning Council work with ongoing global discussions, across different fora. Recent engagements among Council members addressed themes such as the link between artificial intelligence and resources, ICMM’s led Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative (CMSI), and the recent World Resources Forum in Geneva. Members also noted that minerals are increasingly paired with green-hydrogen diplomacy, and that reconstruction agendas (e.g., for Ukraine) are elevating critical raw materials under high standards and shared-value approaches. It was further stressed that Europe’s climate trajectory remains on course, keeping it a major driver of minerals demand and technology transfer, and that cooperation with producer countries should be based on equal, partnership-oriented terms.

COP30 was highlighted as an important upcoming development for mineral governance. The geopolitical dimension of climate politics, climate finance, transitioning away from fossil fuels and resource scarcity were mentioned as entry points for minerals discussions in climate negotiations.

COP30’s architecture - especially its Action Agenda engaging private finance, industry and civil society - offers a practical entry point for minerals (including “mining security”) alongside the Leaders’ Summit. The meeting also stressed the political nature of this COP, where power politics and climate politics intersect, particularly across the three tropical forest regions that are simultaneously biodiversity strongholds and emerging mineral frontiers.

G7 Critical Minerals Action Plan and “Standards-based Markets”

The Global Council invited Cassie Cai, Deputy Director, International Affairs and Trade Division, Lands and Minerals Sector at Natural Resources Canada, to present the G7 Critical Minerals Action Plan (CMAP) launched under Canada’s Presidency in June 2025. The plan builds on Japan’s Five-Point Plan for Critical Minerals Security (2023) and Italy’s commitment to implementing the Plan and its circular economy agenda (2024).

The CMAP, also endorsed by Australia, India and South Korea, is composed of three pillars:

1. Building standards-based markets: recognizing the real costs of responsible extraction, labor protections, anti-corruption, community consultations, and environmental safeguard. Ministers will produce a roadmap by the end of 2025 to guide implementation, which should be announced at the Energy and Environment Ministerial Meeting on October 30-31.

2. Mobilizing Capital & Investing in Partnerships: mobilizing partnerships and investment into critical mineral projects is required to secure future supply chains. Canada committed $5M funding to the launch of the G7+ Minerals Skills Network and $5M funding to the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals, and Sustainable Development (IGF). It will also mobilize multilateral development banks, the private sector and DFIs to make further capital available for critical mineral projects.

3. Promoting innovation: Intensifying collaboration to fill targeted innovation gaps in critical minerals research and development, with a focus on processing, licensing, recycling, substitution and redesign, and circular economy.

Beyond the G7, Canada is working with the G20 on its Critical Minerals Governance Framework and coordinating with the OECD, IEA and IGF, as well as partners including South Africa, Australia, India and South Korea. It is also partnering with the World Bank’s RISE initiative to improve enabling conditions in developing countries.

Over the first half of September, the Secretariat held consultations among the Global Council’s group of Special Advisors to gather diverse perspectives from private sector actors, civil society, and international organizations on the concept of “Standards-based markets” put forward in the G7 Action Plan. The consultations indicated broad support for upholding high standards in mineral supply chains, with a clear call to build on existing frameworks (e.g., EITI, OECD) rather than create new ones. While pointing to its potential to reduce risk and attract investment if designed inclusively and backed by credible implementation (monitoring, traceability, enforcement), stakeholders stressed the risk of weaponization that could fragment markets and slow the transition. A standards-based approach requires inclusivity and capacity support - engaging producer countries, emerging economies, and ASM - alongside investment in responsible companies. Some Special Advisors explicitly cautioned that endorsing the G7 statement could compromise the Council’s neutrality, suggesting the Council focus instead on fostering investment in already responsible operators.

Discussions underscored concerns over whether all countries, including current US Administration, would abide by minimum threshold for effective implementation of standards-based markets, and members agreed that such measures could be seen as protectionist tools. At the same time, the plan’s second pillar -investment, skills and enabling infrastructure - was seen as pivotal to unlocking midstream value and giving the overall approach credibility. Members also questioned whether the G7 still has enough market power to shape global rules by itself and how the G7 planned to engage with other blocs such as G20, BRICS+ and major producers. Members argued that G7’s ability to drive global change may be limited unless they adopt a more inclusive and conciliatory long-term approach especially with producer countries, noting competition with major investors like Saudi Arabia.

Reducing Fragmentation: Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)

To enrich the discussion around standards, foster complementarity of existing initiatives, and further explore Recommendation 3 for a mineral data repository, the Secretariat invited Mark Robinson, Executive Director of EITI, to present the standard. Mark Robinson highlighted the critical role of governance and transparency in ensuring sustainable and resilient critical mineral supply chains. A large proportion of known critical mineral resources are located in countries with weak governance or political instability, which creates significant risks for supply chain sustainability. Where resource contracts are publicly disclosed, they often pay little attention to transparency measures, and companies involved may not adhere to established international standards. Without effective public oversight on these deals and consistent adherence to global standards, these weaknesses threaten to undermine both investment and productive capacity, thus compromising the resilience of supply chains.

EITI’s multi-stakeholder approach, involving 55 member countries, as well as companies, and civil society actors, provides a mechanism to monitor and enforce transparency, including reporting on revenue flows, production, exports, contracts, licenses, and beneficial ownership. Additionally, the EITI is moving beyond traditional reporting by making this data available in more accessible, digital, and near real-time formats for a wide range of stakeholders. This shift aims to ensure that transparency is not only a compliance exercise but a practical tool for oversight and accountability across supply chains.

For the EITI, aligning standards with national priorities and technical capacities of producer countries is key, while reinforcing complementarity among global frameworks, including the CMSI, GRI, OECD guidance, IRMA, and the LME responsible sourcing requirements. The importance of community engagement was also emphasized, with 60–70% of future mining occurring on lands managed by indigenous or land-dependent communities. Effective consultation and inclusion of these communities in exploration, operations, benefit-sharing, and local development are essential to ensure sustainable and equitable outcomes.

Council members welcomed the emphasis on transparency, interoperable data, and multi-stakeholder oversight as practical levers to strengthen minerals governance and noted the value of aligning leading initiatives to reduce duplication while keeping ambition high. They also underscored the centrality of meaningful community consent, particularly given the share of future mining on Indigenous and land-dependent lands. Discussions highlighted the need to balance mining with communities’ basic rights to land, water, and livelihoods, and ensure inclusion of labor and civil society in governance processes of existing and emerging standards. Participants noted the increasing pressure from downstream buyers, who are now setting higher expectations than the industry is currently prepared to meet.

Updates on the Global Council and Secretariat

The Global Council and the Secretariat welcomed Kadri Simson as a new Member of the Global Council for Responsible Transition Minerals. Kadri most recently served as European Commissioner for Energy from 2019 to 2024, where she led the EU’s energy transition efforts under the European Green Deal and spearheaded partnerships on green hydrogen, often linked with critical minerals, with countries such as Namibia, Norway, and Chile. She also oversaw an unprecedented acceleration of renewable energy deployment, notably through the REPowerEU initiative, launched to manage the energy dependency crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Prior to this position, Kadri served as Estonia’s Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure, a country which hosts EU’s only rare earth separation facility, giving her firsthand insight into both opportunities and challenges of mineral production in Europe. Kadri currently serves as a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP).

The Secretariat provided a brief update on the Council’s activities since June 2024, noting six meetings and the publication of an interim report setting out seven recommendations. It also highlighted the contribution of a growing group of Special Advisors, whose inputs continue to inform the Council’s work.

This meeting also introduced Clémence Contensou as the new Head of the Secretariat, following prior roles on extractives governance at the EITI and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.