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Critical Minerals

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Nine of our best climate stories from 2025

Nine of our best climate stories from 2025
Nine of our best climate stories from 2025
Nine of our best climate stories from 2025
Nine of our best climate stories from 2025
Nine of our best climate stories from 2025
Nine of our best climate stories from 2025
Nine of our best climate stories from 2025
Nine of our best climate stories from 2025

At Climate Home News, we found this year a pretty depressing one to cover, shaped as it was by Donald Trump’s attacks on climate science and action at home and abroad – and rounded off by the UN declaring global warming will break through the key 1.5C limit the world set itself in 2015. 

But it wasn’t all bad. Nobody had decided to follow the US out of the Paris Agreement by the time it turned 10 this month. Anti-climate candidates in Canada and Australia, backed by Trump, lost elections convincingly. And 2025 may also have been the year carbon dioxide emissions fell for the first time.

What’s more, our reporting this year saw results in the real world. After we revealed that Chilean doctors believe pollution from copper mines in the northern hub of Calama is causing autism, campaigners sued state-owned mining company Codelco. The case is ongoing.

One of the lawyers representing the campaigners said “when [Climate Home News] revealed our silent suffering and our fight, we felt we had finally been heard and had entered the national conversation thanks to international media coverage. That was the final push to file the lawsuit.”

If you want to fund more impactful reporting like this in 2026, please subscribe and unlock all of our content for just the price of a coffee per week. Or to keep up with our latest coverage, you can sign up for our free newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, BlueSky and Facebook.

Below are nine of our best stories this year and, if that’s not enough, here’s nine more from 2024.

1. Solar squeeze: US tariffs threaten panel production and jobs in Thailand

In the year of trade wars, Trump extended Biden-era tariffs on solar panels from China to neighbouring countries. Nicha Wachpanich spoke to some of those workers who subsequently lost their jobs making panels at Chinese-run factories in Thailand and found that the US levies and bad behaviour by bosses had combined to crush their dreams of a better life.

Solar Thailand

Bunyuen Sukmai, a labour lawyer and former auto-factory worker, goes through files of dismissal dispute cases (Photo: Peerapon Boonyakiat)

2. Business-as-usual: Donors pour climate adaptation finance into big infrastructure, neglecting local needs

Trump being Trump, and axing US climate finance, is no reason to let other wealthy donor nations off the hook. We examined the latest spreadsheets for annual adaptation aid and found Japan is counting support for massive infrastructure projects in its figures, despite them having only a dubious role in helping people adapt to climate change.

Our reporter Tanbirul Miraj Ripon visited one such project – the Matarbari port in Bangladesh. He found that the port handles coal and gas imports and has destroyed locals’ homes and livelihoods. Despite this, on paper it represents $363 million in Japanese climate adaptation finance, the biggest single climate resilience project being funded by a wealthy country in 2023.

chart visualization

3. Ethiopia’s bold EV ambitions hit bumps in rural areas

Other nations are trying hard to go green but finding it tricky. This year, Ethiopia hosted the Africa Climate Summit, was selected as the host of COP32 and opened the continent’s biggest hydropower dam.

It plans to use some of this clean power to charge electric vehicles, after banning imports of cars with internal combustion engines (even as the European Union is softening its own 2035 ban on ICEs). While that will reduce Ethiopia’s already tiny emissions and its fossil fuel import bills, it won’t be easy in a nation where only half the population has electricity access, as Solomon Yimer and Vivian Chime reported.

In Ethiopia, EV ambitions are hitting bumps in rural areas

A newly inaugurated EV charging station installed by Ethio Telecom in Addis Ababa. (Photo: Solomon Yimer)

4. Ending poverty and gangs: How Zambia seeks to cash in on the global drive for EVs

Other African governments are trying to cash in on their minerals, which big players like China, the US and increasingly Saudi Arabia want for green technologies and/or making equipment for wars.

Pamela Kapekele went to look at the situation in Zambia’s Copperbelt province – where you can probably guess what they produce! She found that good tax regulations and working conditions will be needed if locals are to see the benefits of surging demand for the metal.

Later in the year, an acid spill from a copper-mine tailings dam that contaminated the country’s main river showed the value of environmental regulation too. Reporting from Nigeria’s lithium and South Africa’s platinum mines also highlighted the challenges of making minerals mining and processing cleaner and fairer for communities.

Zambia copper mining

Illegal miner Mulenga Chishala climbs out of a mining tunnel

5. Is the world’s big idea for greener air travel a flight of fancy?

Some sectors – like international aviation and shipping – tend to fall outside the scope of national media, and it’s a gap we’ve aimed to fill. Together with Singapore’s Straits Times, we tracked the supply chain for what the airline industry calls “Sustainable Aviation Fuel” (SAF) and found that virgin and barely used palm oil – which threatens rainforests – is being passed off as waste cooking oil and used to power planes in Europe.

Malaysia is a particular hotspot for this fraud, as government subsidies there make virgin palm oil cheap in the shops – and it can be sold for a higher price as “used” cooking oil, providing a profit motive for flipping it. Our investigation was picked up by the Financial Times, Bloomberg and the Malaysian authorities, who have since launched a crackdown on this kind of fraud. 

But with verification of the materials used for SAF relying on just a handful of commercial auditors conducting mainly paper-based checks, airlines currently cannot know for sure if their green jet fuel is actually sustainable. Their advertising to passengers should – but often doesn’t – reflect this uncertainty.

Members of the public delivering their used cooking oil (UCO) to Evergreen Oil & Feed’s joint collection drive with the Melaka City Council in May 2025. (Photo: Sairien Nafis/Climate Home News/The Straits Times)

6. Brazil’s environment minister suggests roadmap to end fossil fuels at COP30

Our reporting was often prescient this year. We called it correctly that the US would leave the Paris Agreement but not the UNFCCC, that Argentina would not follow America out of Paris, that Ethiopia rather than Nigeria would be chosen as COP32 host and that petrostates would try to kill a new green shipping framework at the International Maritime Organization.

We are also pretty sure we were the first – at least in English – to pick up on Brazilian Environment Minister Marina Silva’s proposal for COP30 to agree on a roadmap away from fossil fuels, which she aired back in June at London Climate Week. That proposal was pushed by President Lula at the start of COP30, dominated much of the conversation at the summit and will continue to be discussed throughout 2026.

Brazil's environment minister Marina Silva at a press conference in London. (Photo: Credit: Isabela Castilho / COP30 presidency)
Brazil’s environment minister Marina Silva at a press conference in London. (Photo: Credit: Isabela Castilho/COP30 presidency)

8. PR firm working for Shell wins COP30 media contract

In the summer of 2025, our crack investigative reporter Matteo Civillini got the scoop on how the Brazilian government, via a contract tendered by the UN, was working with Edelman on international media relations for the COP30 climate summit while the global PR giant was simultaneously engaged in promoting Shell’s fossil fuel interests in Brazil.

This story was picked up by a range of other media, and amplified calls for agencies whose clients include fossil fuel firms to be excluded from the climate negotiations. Advocacy group Clean Creatives was inspired by Matteo’s reporting to launch a campaign against Edelman’s COP involvement. That culminated in an open letter from influencers and creators with a combined audience of over 24 million calling for Edelman to be dropped. The drumbeat on this theme is likely to get louder in 2026.

COP30 President André Aranha Corrêa do Lago speaks to journalists at COP30 (Photo: Flickr/COP30)

8. “House of cards”: Verra used junk carbon credits to fix Shell’s offsetting scandal

And talking of smoke and mirrors, just when we thought the murky web of carbon offsetting linking oil and gas major Shell to sham rice-farming projects in China couldn’t get any more convoluted, it did exactly that.

By combing through the records of carbon-credit registry Verra – the world’s biggest – Matteo confirmed that nearly a million bogus offsets from 10 disqualified methane reduction projects had been compensated for with the same number of junk credits from another four such projects that were also axed by Verra.

“It’s frankly unbelievable that Verra considers it appropriate to compensate for hot air credits with other hot air credits,” Jonathan Crook, policy lead at Carbon Market Watch, told us. “To pretend this is a satisfactory resolution is both absurd and deeply alarming.”

Verra insists the replacement credits were technically available to plug the gap left by the first batch – even though the second set, too, now need to be swapped out. Shell is keeping its distance, saying it does not manage or operate “the projects in question” despite being earlier involved in the Chinese rice-farming programmes as their “authorised representative”. Mind-boggling indeed!

Farmers transplant rice seedlings in the fields in Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province, China, on June 17, 2025. (Photo: Costfoto/NurPhoto)

9. Self-taught mechanics give second life to Jordan’s glut of spent EV batteries

In what was on balance a bad year, we brought you some hope too. A landmark advisory opinion on climate change and human rights from the International Court of Justice in The Hague was stronger than anyone imagined and may open the door to lawsuits against polluting countries and companies in 2026.

Other good news stories included analysts suggesting China’s fossil fuel use could peak this year, the UN’s loss and damage fund launching its first call for proposals, South Korea and Morocco moving to phase out coal and a boom in imports of solar panels to Africa.

Hope came too from ordinary people and their ingenuity – like the untrained Jordanians interviewed by Yamuna Matheswaran, hooking up solar panels to old Tesla batteries, lowering both their electricity bills and their carbon emissions into the bargain.

Man leans over large depleted EV battery in a workshop in Amman

Shadi Jameel at work in his repair shop in Amman’s al Bayader industrial area (Photo: Shadi Jameel)

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Outdated geological data limits Africa’s push to benefit from its mineral wealth

Outdated geological data limits Africa’s push to benefit from its mineral wealth
Outdated geological data limits Africa’s push to benefit from its mineral wealth
Outdated geological data limits Africa’s push to benefit from its mineral wealth
Outdated geological data limits Africa’s push to benefit from its mineral wealth
Outdated geological data limits Africa’s push to benefit from its mineral wealth
Outdated geological data limits Africa’s push to benefit from its mineral wealth
Outdated geological data limits Africa’s push to benefit from its mineral wealth

Resource-rich African nations risk missing out on the investment needed to extract and refine their mineral wealth into high-value products for the clean energy transition because they lack accurate information on what they have, experts are warning. 

African countries have attracted huge interest as the world scrambles to access the minerals and metals needed for the energy transition and digital and military technologies, with investors from the US, China, the United Arab Emirates and Europe jostling to secure access to the continent’s resources. 

But any knowledge of Africa’s mineral wealth is, at best, an estimate based on century-old-mapping and haphazard geological data, policy experts and investors told Climate Home News. 

The United Nations says Africa is home to 30% of the world’s mineral reserves, including cobalt, copper, lithium and manganese, which are needed to manufacture batteries and other clean energy technologies. 

But experts like Bright Simons, who tracks natural resource spending in Africa for the Ghana-based IMANI Centre for Policy and Education, said the 30% number is not backed by any “empirical, evidence-based assessment” of the continent’s mineral wealth. While some analysts like Simons think the figure could be an overestimate, others argue it is likely an underestimate of the continent’s mineral reserves.

    Up-to-date and accurate data is critical for governments to negotiate better deals with prospecting mining companies and to help drive investment in mineral extraction and processing facilities that can add value to the continent’s resources. 

    But the lack of good mapping has negatively impacted the continent’s efforts to capture the economic benefits of booming mineral demand and to create jobs by extracting and processing raw materials into higher-value products before export, experts said.

    Colonial maps 

    Under-exploration and scant information about Africa’s resources have made it challenging for states to attract investment and develop their resources, said Pritish Behuria, a political economist at the Global Development Institute at the UK’s University of Manchester. 

    “In many cases, former colonial powers retain more current knowledge of the kinds of mineral deposits that exist in African countries – and often, this has proven difficult to access for African governments,” he told Climate Home News. 

    Thabit Jacob, a researcher of extractive and energy resources at Roskilde University in Denmark, said many African countries “still rely on colonial maps”. 

    “There’s a growing realisation that Africa must know its true value in mineral richness and investment in geological mapping is crucial,” he added.

    Mapping inequality 

    However, mapping investment is falling short. Africa’s share of global exploration investment has fallen in the last two decades, data shows.

    In 2024 alone, both Canada and Australia received significantly more investment in geological mapping than the whole of Africa, even though the continent’s landmass is three times the size of the two countries combined, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 

    Even in South Africa, a major mining destination, only 12% of the country has been mapped at a detailed level “which compares poorly with other popular mining destinations such as Canada and Australia where there is near complete coverage at similar scales”, explained Tania Marshall, of the Geological Society of South Africa. 

    Nigeria’s push to cash in on lithium rush gets off to a rocky start

    To address the dearth in data, multinational institutions like the World Bank have provided African countries with finance for mapping, but have simultaneously encouraged them to liberalise and privatise their mining industries. 

    As a result, international investors prioritising project development have come to dominate the continent’s mining sector, crowding out state-sponsored initiatives with stronger incentives to invest in data-gathering, researchers have found.  

    Does the world need a global treaty on energy transition minerals?

    Workers during a break at the Prospect Lithium mine and processing plant in Goromonzi, Zimbabwe (Photo: REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo)

    Digging blind 

    Orina Chang, an investor leading geological mapping across Somaliland, which has reserves of copper and zinc ore, said she was surprised to find out that even countries attracting huge interest from institutional miners, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), do not have systematic up-to-date mapping. 

    Instead, mining firms rely on artisanal mining and surface signs, like exposed ores on the ground – and crossing their fingers, she told Climate Home News. 

    The mapping deficit means there is little certainty on the size and quality of mineral deposits and provides few incentives for miners to invest in processing plants, Chang explained. 

    “Without mapping, everyone is blindly digging and you just get people who are not interested in really investing in your country,” she said. “With mapping, you’re able to attract much better players and build plants, create jobs, drive economic growth, help the GDP.”  

    The rise of AI-driven exploration tools 

    Today, AI-driven mapping tools have created new opportunities to obtain high-precision information with less on-the-ground investment. Geophysical data and satellite imagery are fed into a model that creates a geological map which can help point to high-potential deposits. 

    Last year, California-based KoBold Metals, which is backed by US billionaires Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, discovered a massive copper deposit in Zambia using AI-driven exploration. In July, the firm signed an agreement with the DRC to lead critical mineral exploration there. 

    But the technology is expensive and not widely available to governments. 

    Instead, in its 2024 Green Minerals Strategy, the African Union called for some of the revenues from mineral rents to be reinvested into mapping using low-cost techniques such as satellite imagery and drones, which are less precise. 

      The case for co-operation

      For Gerald Arhin, a research fellow at University College London, greater regional collaboration and pooling resources could also help reduce the costs of mapping for individual governments. Last year, for example, South Africa signed an agreement with South Sudan to co-operate on mineral exploration.

      “The sharing of data, industrial intelligence and technical expertise across borders could be transformative for African countries, as well as for developing countries in other regions,” Clovis Freire, who heads the Extractive Commodities Section at UN Trade and Development (Unctad), told Climate Home News.

      Mapping, however, is only one element of a complicated equation when it comes to developing minerals for the energy transition, said Eszter Szedlacsek, who researches climate justice in the context of the green transition at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.   

      “In the race for Africa’s critical minerals, deals hinge only partly on where resources are found, and more on geopolitics, investment conditions and longstanding trade ties,” she said.

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      A dump truck loads raw nickel ore at a nickel mining site of Vale in Sorowako
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      Push for global minerals deal meets opposition, more talks agreed

      Push for global minerals deal meets opposition, more talks agreed
      Push for global minerals deal meets opposition, more talks agreed
      Push for global minerals deal meets opposition, more talks agreed
      Push for global minerals deal meets opposition, more talks agreed
      Push for global minerals deal meets opposition, more talks agreed
      Push for global minerals deal meets opposition, more talks agreed
      Push for global minerals deal meets opposition, more talks agreed

      Countries gathered at the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) this week failed to back a proposal to establish a panel of experts to look at ways to limit the environmental harm caused by mining, agreeing instead to hold more talks on tackling the issue.

      A draft resolution proposed by Colombia and Oman had sought to make mineral supply chains more transparent and sustainable amid booming demand for the minerals and metals needed to manufacture batteries, electric cars, solar panels and wind turbines as well as digital and military technologies.

      It had called for the creation of an expert group to identify options for binding and non-binding international instruments to shape global action.

      But amid divisions among nations and staunch opposition by some governments to any process that could eventually lead to binding instruments, country delegates meeting in Nairobi only agreed to a watered-down proposal to hold “dialogues” on “enhancing international cooperation on [the] sustainable management of minerals and metals”.

      Governments also agreed to discuss how to recover minerals from waste, known as tailings, best practices for the sustainable management of minerals and metals, and strengthening the technological, financial and scientific capabilities of developing countries.

        Pedro Cortes, Colombia’s ambassador to Kenya, told an event on Wednesday that the negotiations had been “difficult” but that the agreement will enable governments to continue the discussion.

        Mauricio Cabrera Leal, Colombia’s former vice minister of environmental policy who initiated work on the proposal last year, told Climate Home News that the outcome was not what he had envisaged but said it was “good” in light of the “hard” geopolitics at play in Nairobi.

        Colombia’s push for a minerals treaty

        Colombia has called for an international minerals treaty to define rules and standards to make mineral value chains more traceable and sustainable as the world scrambles to boost supplies of materials needed for the energy transition.

        For resource-rich developing countries, demand for these minerals is an opportunity to diversify their economies, spur development and create jobs. But the extraction and processing of minerals also brings the risk of environmental damage and human rights abuses.

        Victims of Zambian copper mine disaster demand multibillion dollar payout

        Ambassador Cortes told an event on the sidelines of the UNEA that more stringent global oversight was needed.

        “While various efforts have sought to promote the environmentally sustainable management of mining through voluntary guidelines, national legislations and industry-led initiatives, it is clear that greater international cooperation is needed at this critical moment to elevate ambition and accelerate action,” he said.

        “This action will be essential to balance the growing demand for minerals required for the renewable energy transition with the imperative of ensuring environmental integrity and social sustainability,” he added.

        Opposition to binding rules

        But numerous governments – including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran as well as resource-rich Chile, Peru, Argentina and some African countries such as Uganda – opposed any discussion of possible binding rules on mineral value chains, several observers with access to the negotiations told Climate Home News.

        While UNEA resolutions are not legally binding, they can kick off a process towards binding agreements, such as the launch of negotiations on a treaty to end plastics pollution – a process that has since stalled.

        China, which dominates the processing and refining of minerals and metals, stayed largely quiet during the negotiations. But Nana Zhao, an official from the Chinese delegation, told Climate Home News that China was “satisfied” with the wording of the resolution.

        The UNEA should stay focused on environmental matters and not bring in issues relating to supply chains, she added.

        The opening plenary of UNEA-7 in Nairobi, Kenya (Photo: IISD/ENB | Anastasia Rodopoulou)

        An opening for more co-operation

        Campaigners, who are calling for binding rules to prevent environmental and social harms linked to mineral extraction and processing, expressed disappointment at the agreement but welcomed the prospect of further talks on the issue.

        “The initial aim was to start with negotiations for [a] binding treaty and to get countries together to start talking about joint rules,” Johanna Sydow, a resource policy expert who heads the international environmental policy division of Germany’s Heinrich-Böll Foundation, told Climate Home News.

        The agreement reached in Nairobi is “very weak” compared to that initial proposal but it creates the “foundation to stay in dialogue and try to find solutions and work on something constructively”, she said. “This is an opening for more co-operation”.

        UN taskforce to deliver equitable supply chains

        On the sidelines of the assembly, UN agencies launched a taskforce on critical energy transition minerals to coordinate UN activities in building more transparent, sustainable and equitable supply chains.

        The taskforce will help deliver on recommendations by a panel of experts convened by UN Secretary-General António Guterres which called for putting equity and human rights at the core of mineral value chains.

        It will be chaired by the UN Environment Programme, UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the UN Development Programme, and draw on expertise across the UN system.

          Inger Andersen, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme, said the sustainable management of minerals cuts across trade, environment and development.

          “Multilateral cooperation and partnerships beyond the UN [are] absolutely essential for us to respond to what we can see is a driving demand and hunger for minerals and metals. But before we have a ‘race’ to this, let’s make sure we look at these aspects that can lead to injustice, environmental harms, biodiversity loss, water pollution and human rights [harms],” she added.

          Suneeta Kaimal, president and CEO of the Natural Resource Governance Institute and a member of the UN panel of experts, said the taskforce was “a timely and necessary step toward making the panel’s ambitions real”.

          “It must work boldly and inclusively with communities and civil society, and it will need political commitment and financial resources – not only technical efforts – to drive a just and equitable new paradigm that safeguards people, ecosystems and economies in producer countries,” she said.

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          A dump truck loads raw nickel ore at a nickel mining site of Vale in Sorowako
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          Mining is destroying our homes: We need global binding rules for mineral extraction

          Mining is destroying our homes: We need global binding rules for mineral extraction
          Mining is destroying our homes: We need global binding rules for mineral extraction
          Mining is destroying our homes: We need global binding rules for mineral extraction
          Mining is destroying our homes: We need global binding rules for mineral extraction

          Beverly Besmanos is the national coordinator of Bantay Kita-Philippines, a coalition of NGOs advocating for transparency and accountability of the extractive industries in the Philippines. Nsama Chikwanka is the national director of Publish What You Pay Zambia. They are both members of the Resource Justice Network.

          The clean-energy transition, the solution to the climate crisis, is bulldozing through the Global South, driving a surge in demand for minerals such as copper, nickel, cobalt and lithium.

          These transition minerals are crucial to build cleaner energy systems and help the world transition away from fossil fuels. Yet, without guardrails, the mining rush is fuelling human-rights abuses and environmental destruction.

          As the seventh session of the United Nations Environmental Assembly (UNEA-7) gets underway in Nairobi this week, we need to sound the alarm and mobilise countries to stand for equity and rights in mineral governance.

          Voluntary safeguards and corporate goodwill are not stopping are not stopping mining harms. National policies and laws are also falling short of what is needed.

          What we need are binding global rules. What UNEA-7 can deliver is a credible pathway to deliver them.

            Since recent UN climate talks have ignored mineral governance, and domestic approaches have clearly failed to enforce consistent standards, UNEA-7 cannot afford to stall.

            Under the leadership of Colombia, several mineral-rich Global South countries are taking action for stronger global mineral governance. This is a unique chance we cannot miss.

            An opportunity to chart a way forward

            Countries in Nairobi must adopt Colombia’s resolution to develop international instruments for the “socially and environmentally sound management of minerals and metals” across their entire life cycle, from mining to recycling.

            Crucially, they must establish an ad hoc open-ended working group with an ambitious mandate, tasked to identify gaps, develop proposals for international rules, and unequivocally keep legally binding options on the table, so that these recommendations can be presented at the next UNEA session in 2026.

            Binding rules are the only way to create a level playing field, reward responsible companies, and prevent a race to the bottom where purely voluntary schemes leave honest actors undercut.

            The necessity for enforceable global standards is written in the polluted waters and degraded lands of our homes, from Zambia’s Copperbelt to the nickel mines of the Philippines.

            The view from the mine

            In Zambia, Africa’s second-largest copper producer, two tailings dam breaches six months apart in 2025— in Kalulushi and Mwense districts — released toxic effluent into rivers. These disasters disrupted livelihoods, killed aquatic life, and exposed communities to long-term health risks and loss of economic opportunities.

            Weak local safeguards and the sheer impunity of multinational companies enabled this disaster. The alleged suppression of a study into the disaster’s true scale proves that when profits are threatened, truth and life are sacrificed. We cannot rely on companies to police themselves; we need a global legal hammer to enforce accountability.

            Zambia reels from acid spills at copper mines. We need global binding rules for energy-transition mineral extraction

            Farmer Nelson Band holds a burnt cob of maize and a sachet of drinking water handed out by the Zambian government after a major acid leak from a copper mine polluted the soil and water streams (Photo: Stafrance Zulu)

            In the Philippines, a key nickel supplier for electric vehicle batteries, nickel mines in Caraga Region, Tawi-Tawi, and Palawan are stripping forests and mangroves that protect coasts. Siltation and runoff choke farms and fisheries, water turns reddish-brown, carcinogenic chromium appears in drinking supplies. Food insecurity follows.

            The social toll is equally severe. Too many projects proceed without securing Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) from Indigenous Peoples, and land and environment defenders face harassment and violence. A global instrument must centre FPIC, defender protection, due diligence, and access to remedy as enforceable obligations to halt this cycle of abuse.

            The UN is the place to broker new rules

            As mining supply chains are inherently transboundary, only cooperation and consistent, open standards will yield resilient, equitable, and transparent mineral extraction. We must hold multinational enterprises, which operate across borders, to the same environmental and human rights norms worldwide.

            Such legally binding rules are essential to establish equal standards for all and operating certainty for businesses.

            The UN is the right body to carry this work. As the world’s highest-level decision-making body for matters related to the environment, UNEA is tasked with setting priorities for global environmental law — a mandate that needs to include mining.

            We don’t need another dialogue or a light-touch technical platform. Countries must instead turn best practice and voluntary principles into enforceable rules.

            We want justice now for the communities and ecosystems being sacrificed in the name of the energy transition. By acting decisively, UNEA-7 can set a new paradigm across the full life cycle of minerals, rooted in environmental integrity, human rights, Indigenous Peoples’ rights, justice, and equity.

            We urge countries to support Colombia’s initiative and adopt an ambitious resolution as a key step towards concrete, decision-ready options for a global instrument to govern mineral extraction.

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            COP30 Bulletin Day 5: COP30 could greenlight work on a fossil fuel transition roadmap

            COP30 Bulletin Day 5: COP30 could greenlight work on a fossil fuel transition roadmap
            COP30 Bulletin Day 5: COP30 could greenlight work on a fossil fuel transition roadmap
            COP30 Bulletin Day 5: COP30 could greenlight work on a fossil fuel transition roadmap
            COP30 Bulletin Day 5: COP30 could greenlight work on a fossil fuel transition roadmap
            COP30 Bulletin Day 5: COP30 could greenlight work on a fossil fuel transition roadmap

            As a growing number of countries start to rally publicly behind a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels at COP30, governments are trying to pin down what those discussions would look like, and what the talks in Belém could deliver.

            At the leaders’ summit before COP began, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva issued a call to push forward on a fossil fuel transition roadmap. His COP30 team has so far stuck to the line that the ask for a roadmap was already in the country’s NDC issued last year, and as such is not new, although it is not on the formal agenda in Belém.  

            “This is something that is critical to the COP30 presidency,” COP30’s programme director Alice Amorim told a high-level event on the sidelines of the talks this Friday. “Not all of the outcomes will all be visible this year. But it’s important to have a process. It’s important to start moving from the idea of action to actual action.”

            “We hope to see many results coming out of this COP and these conversations – and we stand ready as COP30 presidency to facilitate as much as we can the conversations moving forward.”

            Speaking to journalists separately on Friday afternoon, Germany’s State Secretary for Climate Action Jochen Flasbarth said he had not expected “anything here on fossil fuels, but President Lula’s opening speech was a game changer […] Now I think there is potential to do something and start a process.”

              The form and scope of any roadmap is still on the drawing board. UK climate minister Katie White, for example, said at the same event that “we need universal action combining all the (existing) initiatives into one global system that powers and coordinates change. This is what the roadmap can do.” 

              While discussions on a plan to transition away from fossil fuels are new inside negotiating rooms, outside of the UN climate process countries have been talking about it for years through initiatives like the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (BOGA) and the Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA).

              For Vera Rodenhoff, Germany’s deputy director for international climate action, coming out of COP30 with a clear path forward is key. The process should be informed by the best available science and deliver action “inside and outside the climate process”, she said.

              A process to craft a roadmap would take as a basis the COP28 deal in 2023 where all countries first agreed to transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems, Fiji’s permanent secretary for climate change, Sivendra Michael, told Climate Home News. Small island nations, among them Fiji, have pushed for the conversations to advance in the negotiating rooms.

              “It’s about time that we start negotiating on the pathways to reach that compromise,” he said, adding that for a roadmap to be successful, finance for developing countries will be critical. “[Developing countries] deserve to have access to predictable and simplified finance so that we are able to respond accordingly,” Michael said.

              However, the abrupt start to these conversations – spurred by Lula’s pre-COP call for a fossil fuel transition roadmap – has resulted in some groups of countries scrambling to formulate a unified position, especially because it is not on the formal negotiating agenda.

              Richard Muyungi, the chair of the African Group of Negotiators (AGN), told Climate Home News on Friday that African countries had yet to coordinate their views on the issue, but would do so if developments at COP30 require it.

              He emphasised that while it “is a very important issue”, Africa is a diverse continent including oil-producing nations and others that have low levels of development, so settling on a pan-African view will require understanding a range of views.

              “But… generally as a continent, we are the least responsible for the [climate] problem, and this is the continent which chooses to harness all the available energy sources to develop,” he said, adding that Africa should not be forced or pushed towards a trajectory that threatens to undermine its development agenda.

              Indigenous peoples blockade venue to defend territories

              Carrying traditional spears and signs calling for an end to the exploitation of the Amazon rainforest, dozens of Indigenous people blocked the main entrance to the COP30 climate summit on Friday morning. 

              Long queues formed as delegates were asked to enter through what is normally the venue’s exit to access the negotiations. The protest ended after several hours when COP30 bosses André Corrêa do Lago and Ana Toni joined the demonstrators to listen to their concerns. 

              At a press conference on Friday evening, Corrêa do Lago said the protesters had arrived peacefully and that security had done their job correctly. The demonstrators had met with himself, Brazilian Environment Minister Marina Silva and Indigenous Peoples Minister Sonia Guajajara – herself a Brazilian indigenous activist and environmentalist – where they expressed concerns about their limited participation in COP30. 

              “I explained that COP30 is, in fact, a positive agenda for Indigenous peoples, and that we want to increase constantly the recognition of their work as guardians of these extraordinary forests all over the world,” Corrêa do Lago said.

              COP30 President André Correa do Lago sits on a chair surrounded by Indigenous Peoples in traditional dress

              Brazil’s COP30 President André Correa do Lago, Minister of Indigenous Peoples Sonia Guajajara, and Environment Minister Marina Silva attend a meeting with Indigenous peoples at COP30 in Belém (Photo: Hermes Caruzo/COP30)

              On Friday morning outside the venue, the protesters, belonging to the Munduruku tribe, demanded an end to development projects, including large-scale infrastructure and mining that affect the rights of Indigenous people living in the Valley of the Tapajós River in the Amazon, InfoAmazonia reported. 

              They carried signs displaying slogans like “fighting for our territories is fighting for our lives” alongside images showing the destruction of natural habitats.  

              While delegates waited in a long queue in Belém’s hot, humid weather, many remarked that it was refreshing to see a COP presidency engage directly with demonstrators. Over the past three summits – in Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Azerbaijan – similar protests outside UN venues had been effectively banned. 

              “This is what happens when you finally host the talks in a democracy,” one said. 

                During the sit-in, Brazilian army officers in riot gear formed a protective cordon in front of the venue’s main entrance. The COP30 hosts have stepped up security measures after a group of Indigenous protesters on Tuesday evening forced their way into the conference centre and clashed with security guards. 

                Brazil, the host nation of COP30, has stressed the importance of giving Indigenous people a voice in this year’s climate negotiations.

                But Indigenous people are frustrated that more cannot access the negotiating area of the COP30 venue, known as the Blue Zone. According to analysis by InfoAmazonia, only 360 of 2,500 Indigenous Brazilians received accreditation for that space. The Brazilian government says that’s more than any previous COP – but it’s only a small fraction of the 56,000 people registered to attend this year’s UN climate talks.

                Climate Home joined a flotilla of dozens of boats on Wednesday when hundreds of Indigenous people, many hailing from the Tapajós River region, sailed in the Amazon River delta to raise concerns about Brazil’s oil and gas, mining and agricultural expansion in their forests.

                Following Friday’s protest, Brazilian media outlet InfoAmazonia reported that the federal government announced it will move forward with the demarcation of the Sawré Muybu and Sawré Ba’pim Indigenous Lands (TIs) of the Munduruku people in Pará state, and has committed to analysing the impacts of large infrastructure projects in the Tapajós Basin.

                Transition minerals make debut in COP text

                As pushed by developing countries and campaigners, the question of how to extract the minerals needed to ramp up clean energy deployment in a greener and fairer way have appeared in draft text at the climate negotiations for the first time.

                On Friday, an informal note gathering the views of countries was issued as the basis of negotiations for the Just Transition Work Programme, which aims to ensure that the transition to clean energy systems is equitable and sustainable among and within countries.

                The text – none of which is currently agreed – recognises “the social and environmental risks associated with scaling up supply chains for clean energy technologies, including risks arising from the extraction and processing of critical minerals”.

                COP30 could confront “glaring gap” in clean energy agenda: mining

                It also “recalls” the principles and recommendations of a UN expert panel, which said governments and industry should put human rights at the core of the minerals value chain, from mining to recycling. 

                Campaigners widely welcomed the inclusion of critical minerals – after language was proposed by the UK, backed by Australia and the European Union – as a key step, even though it will still have to be agreed by all countries.“For the first time, minerals are on the main stage of COP negotiations – no longer a side show,” said Melissa Marengo, a senior policy officer at the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI).

                Read the full story here.

                Fossil fuel presence reaches largest share at COP30 

                Meanwhile, as delegates in Belém discuss how to approach an energy transition, a new report says they are more likely to bump into a fossil fuel lobbyist in the conference hallways than in previous years.

                A yearly analysis by a coalition of NGOs called Kick Big Polluters Out revealed on Friday that one in 25 people at COP30 represent the fossil fuel industry in some way, with a total of 1,600 lobbyists granted access to the UN climate change conference in Brazil.

                If grouped together into a delegation, fossil fuel industry representatives would outnumber every other government delegation but that of the host nation Brazil. They also outnumber all the delegates from the 10 most climate-vulnerable nations combined.

                The lobbyists mostly register through trade bodies such as the International Emissions Trading Association, which brought 60 people including representatives of TotalEnergies, BP and ExxonMobil, the report says.

                Many of the industry representatives carry badges approved by countries known as “party overflow”, the report says – among them Patrick Pouyanné, CEO of TotalEnergies, who was awarded a French badge.

                Gender talks hung up on definitions

                Last year’s COP agreed on a 10-year extension of the Lima Work Programme to integrate gender equality into climate action and the development of a new Gender Action Plan, with two workshops scheduled before COP30 – one at the mid-year talks in Bonn and another in September in Addis Ababa. With all that previous effort, negotiators expected a smooth start in Belém – but that wasn’t the case.

                On Monday, the first day of the summit, Paraguay and Argentina raised their hands to argue that gender should be defined as “biological sex”, something activists said would backslide on human rights language the UN has been using.

                Yet while the negotiations may have got hung up on definitions, also on Monday, 92 countries signed a Global Statement on Gender Equality and Climate Action. In it they committed to adopt a strong and inclusive gender plan “guided by an understanding of multidimensional factors, including clear priorities, and ensure meaningful and effective implementation over the next decade.”

                “Multidimensional factors” is a way to refer to intersectionality – a term that denotes how social relations involve multiple forms of discrimination and also caused rows during COP29.

                Catherine Pettengell, executive director of Climate Action Network UK, welcomed the statement’s reference to key issues faced by women and girls due to climate climate impacts – such as gender-based violence and disproportionate care work – as well as calls for them to be addressed. “This demonstrates an important commitment to address the structural barriers to equality that women and girls face,” she said.

                An Indigenous woman attends the People’s Summit during the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30). (Photo by Rafa Pereira/COP30)

                An Indigenous woman attends the People’s Summit during the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30). (Photo by Rafa Pereira/COP30)

                Claudia Rubio Giraldo, from the Women’s Environment & Development Organization, said the statement champions a constructive spirit and the collaboration needed to reach a good agreement, something she described as especially important in the current political climate. 

                But she also said that without financing, the push for gender balance and women’s inclusion in climate action would fail. “You can’t develop a gender action plan that is not actionable because it doesn’t have the resources to be actionable,” she said. 

                Campaigners are not expecting a quantitative goal to be set, but rather to gain direct access to funding for women — and want gender to be addressed in the climate finance negotiations.

                The current draft that is undergoing revision by governments has close to 30 activities, each one with around five deliverables, including inputs from civil society. Rubio told Climate Home News, “we don’t care if it’s long, as we have 10 years to work on this.”

                The post COP30 Bulletin Day 5: COP30 could greenlight work on a fossil fuel transition roadmap appeared first on Climate Home News.

                Source Link COP30 Bulletin Day 5: COP30 could greenlight work on a fossil fuel transition roadmap
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                COP30 draft text includes energy transition minerals in UN climate first

                COP30 draft text includes energy transition minerals in UN climate first
                COP30 draft text includes energy transition minerals in UN climate first
                COP30 draft text includes energy transition minerals in UN climate first
                COP30 draft text includes energy transition minerals in UN climate first

                For the first time in UN climate negotiations, countries attending COP30 in Belém, Brazil, are grappling with the implications of extracting minerals required to manufacture batteries, solar panels and wind turbines.

                On Friday, a draft text on ensuring that the transition to clean energy systems is just and sustainable – a negotiation stream known as the Just Transition Work Programme – recognised “the social and environmental risks associated with scaling up supply chains for clean energy technologies, including risks arising from the extraction and processing of critical minerals”.

                It also “recalled” the principles and recommendations of a UN expert panel, which called on governments and industry to put human rights at the core of the minerals value chain, from mining to recycling. The UN panel report, published last year, set out key principles to ensure that mineral supply chains benefit countries and local communities endowed with resources, create jobs, diversify economies and generate revenue for development.

                “For the first time, minerals are on the main stage of COP negotiations – no longer a side show,” said Melissa Marengo, a senior policy officer at the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI).

                  Demand for metals such as copper, cobalt, lithium, nickel and graphite that are vital for manufacturing clean energy transition technologies is soaring. But extracting them creates both new economic opportunities, as well as social and environmental risks for resource-rich countries.

                  Around the world, increased mining activity has fuelled environmental destruction, deforestation and conflict with communities.

                  Last week, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told leaders gathered in Belém that it is “impossible to discuss the energy transition without talking about critical minerals, essential to make batteries, solar panels and energy systems”. Brazil has the world’s second-largest reserves of rare earths, which are used to manufacture permanent magnets for EV motors and wind turbines.

                  Developing countries have called for the impacts and opportunities of mining minerals for the energy transition to be included in the text. African countries, which hold more than 30% of the world’s critical mineral reserves, have been vocal on the issue. The African Group of Negotiators told COP30’s opening plenary that Africa’s resources “must translate into tangible benefits”.

                  “Water is worth more than lithium,” Indigenous Argentine community tells COP30

                  Earlier this week, the UK, backed by Australia and the European Union, proposed language on the importance of fair, transparent, traceable and environmentally sustainable mineral supply chains for the energy transition.

                  The whole draft text, which is described as an “informal note” and is meant as the basis for negotiations on the Just Transition Work Programme, is bracketed, meaning that none of it has yet been agreed by countries.

                  Yet, campaigners widely welcomed the inclusion of minerals in the document as “a real first step”.

                  Marengo said the draft reflected many of the priorities voiced by producing countries, communities on the frontline of mining projects and Indigenous peoples across developing countries.

                  “But the real test begins now,” she said. “Parties must hold the line to secure strong social and environmental safeguards, fair value creation, and a genuinely just approach to transition minerals” that focus “on prosperity for producing countries and communities, and not only on supply security,” she added.

                  Brazil’s COP30 President André Correa do Lago, Minister of Indigenous Peoples Sonia Guajajara, and Environment Minister Marina Silva attend a meeting with Indigenous peoples at COP30 in Belém (Photo: Hermes Caruzo/COP30)

                  Brazil’s COP30 President André Correa do Lago, Minister of Indigenous Peoples Sonia Guajajara, and Environment Minister Marina Silva attend a meeting with Indigenous peoples at COP30 in Belém (Photo: Hermes Caruzo/COP30)

                  The text notes that affected communities must be “central” to the design and implementation of climate measures and recognises the importance “of sustainable patterns of consumption and production”, including through circular economy approaches.

                  It also acknowledges “the importance of the rights of Indigenous Peoples” including self-determination and their right to free, prior and informed consent for development projects that affect them, in addition to “the specific rights and protections for Indigenous Peoples in voluntary isolation and initial contact”, which cannot give their consent to mining on their land.

                  More than half of energy transition mineral reserves are estimated to be located on or near Indigenous land.

                  “We are making history, as no previous COP decision has ever recognised the rights of Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation and Initial Contact so clearly,” said ​​Bryan Bixcul, global coordinator of the Securing Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in the Green Economy (SIRGE) coalition. “Any attempt by countries to remove or weaken this text would represent a major setback for the fulfillment of those rights,” he said.

                  SIRGE has called for the text to go further still and establish exclusion or “no-go” mining zones on the land of uncontacted Indigenous groups.

                  COP30 could confront “glaring gap” in clean energy agenda: mining

                  Meanwhile, the inclusion of language on the “transition away from fossil fuels” remains deeply contentious, with references to fossil fuels only included as “options” in the text, meaning not everyone agrees to it being there. Saudi Arabia, large emerging economies such as India and China, and African countries opposed references to fossil fuels, according to observers present in the negotiating rooms.

                  To help deliver a just energy transition beyond COP30, the draft text includes a demand from an alliance of 134 developing countries – known as the G77 and China – to establish a mechanism that could act as a one-stop shop to provide countries with technical assistance and help foster international cooperation.

                  The idea has been resisted by developed countries, which argue that creating another institution would take a long time and risk duplicating the work of existing initiatives. Alternative options include “improving existing modalities”, “developing a policy tool box” and “developing guidance” to support countries deliver just transitions.

                  These alternatives amount to “tweaking”, Teresa Anderson of ActionAid International told reporters. “We know that if those modalities worked, we would not be in the crisis we are facing now.”

                  The post COP30 draft text includes energy transition minerals in UN climate first appeared first on Climate Home News.

                  Source Link COP30 draft text includes energy transition minerals in UN climate first
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                  COP30 Bulletin Day 9: Belém package elusive as Lula steals the show

                  COP30 Bulletin Day 9: Belém package elusive as Lula steals the show
                  COP30 Bulletin Day 9: Belém package elusive as Lula steals the show
                  COP30 Bulletin Day 9: Belém package elusive as Lula steals the show
                  COP30 Bulletin Day 9: Belém package elusive as Lula steals the show

                  After Brazil’s COP30 presidency said it aimed to gavel through a political package on some of the most divisive issues at the UN climate talks “very late” on Wednesday, promised new draft texts are now not expected to materialise until Thursday morning. 

                  Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva returned to town and held a series of high-level meetings, including talks with delegations from the EU and China. UN Secretary-General António Guterres also conducted bilateral engagements on the sidelines.

                  Lula said in an evening speech that COP30 was a COP “like no other”, and urged leaders to rise to “the people’s demands”. He added that “taking care of the climate is knowing that rich countries need to help poor countries”. 

                  “It’s important for people to be aware that everyone needs to have a responsibility. That’s why we’ve brought up the issue of the roadmap,” the Brazilian president said, referencing a proposed process for a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels. 

                  Yet in the negotiations, key sticking points – from trade and finance from developed countries to the proposed fossil fuel transition roadmap – remain unresolved. Brazilian negotiators are still pushing to bridge divisions in hopes of securing an early win before the formal end of the summit.

                  Pressure builds for fossil fuel transition plan at COP30  

                  Speaking before Lula, Brazil’s Environment Minister Marina Silva said the president had held bilateral meetings on emissions-cutting ambition, just transition and adaptation with some “complexities” but offering ways forward.

                  “Everyone had questions on the roadmap, but I’m certain we had good answers. Not definitive answers, but procedural responses,” Silva said, adding that a roadmap needs language that respects developing countries and increases the responsibilities of historical polluters. 

                  “It’s a live dialogue. No one has a definitive answer and no one wants to impose anything on anyone,” the minister added. “I’m certain that we still have a lot of room ahead for consensus. I believe in progressive consensus, if we all have the best intention to give our best for the climate and the most vulnerable.”.

                  Meanwhile, the European Union presented its own proposal for a Mutirão Roadmap for transitioning away from fossil fuels, which would start a process to develop the roadmap by the next COP.

                  Wopke Hoekstra, European Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth said he had told President Lula that a roadmap would be a “pivotal part” of the success of COP30. 

                  “We’ve decided to come up with a proposal that in our view does justice to more ambition to reflect that the world needs a roadmap,” he said.

                  China and Russia oppose critical minerals in draft

                  Minerals needed for the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy systems made their first appearance in a draft COP text last week. But not everyone is happy about it. 

                  Observers at the talks say China has opposed the inclusion of language on minerals in the text on ensuring a just energy transition within and among countries, while one with access to the negotiation rooms told Climate Home News that Russia is also resisting.  

                  The current draft text for an area of the negotiations known as the Just Transition Work Programme (JTWP) includes an option to recognise the social and environmental risks from extracting minerals needed to manufacture batteries, solar panels and wind turbines. If adopted it would be the first mention of energy-transition minerals in the UN climate regime.

                  The same option also recalls principles and recommendations outlined by a UN of experts convened by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, which suggested that human rights must be “at the core” of mining for transition minerals.

                  Observers say China has been adamant about dropping all references to critical minerals in the COP30 draft. Russia took particular aim at the reference to the UN panel and wants it removed.

                  COP30 draft text includes energy transition minerals in UN climate first

                  To pressure China away from its current position, a group of activists sought to approach China’s second-in-command at COP30, Xia Yingxian, director general of the Department of Climate Change at China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE).

                  After he concluded an appearance in an unrelated event at the WWF pavilion, a group of activists approached Xia to give him a letter “respectfully” calling on China to agree to the inclusion of minerals in the text, arguing that “China’s support would carry significant weight” and signal climate leadership.

                  “The explicit inclusion of critical energy transition minerals is a paramount priority for key delegates and partners across the Global South and developing parties here at COP30,” the letter read. 

                  After being offered the letter, Xia rejected the document several times and, after the activists insisted, he sped away towards delegation offices.

                  China is a dominant actor in the transition minerals supply chain, producing more than 70% of the world’s refined lithium, 78% of the world’s refined cobalt and 91% of rare earth minerals, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

                  China wants a transition towards renewables

                  Battling the deafening roar of pouring rain in a remote corner of the COP venue, Xia Yingxian, director general of China’s Department of Climate Change, dropped subtle hints on where the country stands on the transition away from fossil fuels.

                  Speaking in English at the WWF pavilion, Yingxian said “we are trying to push for a transition to renewables, transitioning away from fossil fuels…how to make it just, orderly and fair. We understand it’s not easy, but this is the journey we have to go together.”

                  He suggested that, while there has been lots of talk about transitioning away, “such kind of narrative” could be reframed to overcome divisions. 

                  How could we promote renewables? Trying to change the tone from negative to positive. This will be more than welcome,” he added.

                  Pressure builds for fossil fuel transition plan at COP30 

                  Xia concluded his speech saying that a change in framing to “positive prosperity” could help “unite all of us” and send the message that “we can do it together”. He added the framing should not be about “losing” but “how we can win”.

                  China – the world’s largest producer of solar and wind technologies – has so far not publicly voiced a position on calls for a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels at COP30. 

                  Yesterday, more than 80 countries asked that a process to craft a roadmap to shift the world away from oil, coal and gas be agreed as one of the main outcomes from Belém.

                  A worker at Dafeng Power Station, which poduces electricity with solar and wind (Photo credit: Zhiyoung Fu/Greenpeace)

                  A worker at Dafeng Power Station, which poduces electricity with solar and wind (Photo credit: Zhiyoung Fu/Greenpeace)

                  Roadmap to end deforestation lags fossil fuel plan at Amazon COP

                  As countries ramp up pressure for a COP30 decision on a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels, they have yet to push hard in the Amazon city of Belém for another much-anticipated roadmap to end deforestation.

                  Discussions on both mechanisms took off after Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told world leaders at the summit’s opening that COP30 must deliver “roadmaps to plan in a fair way the reversal of deforestation, reducing the dependency on fossil fuels and to mobilise the necessary resources to reach these objectives”.

                  Since then, more than 80 countries have rallied behind a fossil fuel transition roadmap – yet negotiators from tropical countries and observers say a roadmap to end deforestation has not gained the same momentum at the UN climate talks.

                  At least 42 countries have expressed support for a deforestation roadmap – among them the European Union, the AILAC group of Latin American countries and the Environmental Integrity Group which includes Mexico, Liechtenstein, Monaco, South Korea, Switzerland and Georgia.

                  World failing on goal to halt deforestation by 2030, raising stakes for Amazon COP

                  Current negotiating drafts include an option to convene a dialogue of ministers on the creation of national roadmaps to end deforestation, which observers told Climate Home News is a weak option that must be improved with more pressure from countries.

                  Panama’s head of delegation Juan Carlos Monterrey told an event hosted by Climate Home News this week that a plan to protect forests has to be one of the key outcomes of COP30. “If we don’t get a roadmap to end deforestation at the Amazonia COP, we will never get it,” he said.

                  Read the full story here.

                  Latin America issues joint call for adaptation indicators in Belém

                  Latin American countries in the AILAC group advocated for a strong adaptation outcome at COP30, after African countries called for a two-year delay in the adoption of metrics to track climate resilience – a key deliverable at the summit.

                  Countries are discussing a set of indicators under the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), which they are expected to use to track progress on how they are coping with the impacts of climate change. But African countries want to hold off unless developed countries agree to triple adaptation finance to $120 billion a year by 2030, saying the metrics are meaningless without money to help them ramp up resilience. 

                  Poorest countries appeal for more adaptation finance at COP30

                  The current draft texts of the “Mutirão” pact – the main expected outcome at COP30 – and the GGA both include options to establish a finance goal for adaptation. COP30 president André Correa do Lago said the two decisions are “interlinked”.

                  “It’s very important that we finish the indicators here. We’ve had two years of work. Technical teams have made progress on a list. It’s not perfect – nothing is – but it exists. We need that list approved so we can begin to implement it,” said Chile’s Environment Minister Maisa Rojas.

                  “We can’t leave a Latin American COP here in Belém without that set of indicators that can help us make progress in this area,” she added.

                  Latin American ministers (centre: Romina Caminada Vallejo, Peru’s minister of strategic development and natural resources) talk to the media at COP30 in Belem, Brazil on November 19, 2025. (Photo: Charlie Dakin)

                  Latin American ministers (centre: Romina Caminada Vallejo, Peru’s minister of strategic development and natural resources) talk to the media at COP30 in Belem, Brazil on November 19, 2025. (Photo: Charlie Dakin)

                  As dozens of reporters surrounded the group of Latin American ministers in an impromptu press huddle, the heads of delegation reiterated the need for finance to back up those indicators, which the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) appealed for on Tuesday.

                  Edwin Castellanos, environment minister of Guatemala, said vulnerable countries “cannot keep adapting with our own resources”, adding that developed countries must provide accessible finance. 

                  “We cannot keep waiting for years while projects are developed and our communities keep suffering the impacts of climate change,” he said.

                  A UN report issued in the run-up to COP30 said developing countries will need to spend between $310 billion and $365 billion per year on measures to adapt to worsening climate change impacts by 2035. 

                  Rojas of Chile said “we must ensure that finance reaches communities”, adding that one option would be to allocate a share of last year’s finance goal agreed in Baku for adaptation. It promises to mobilise $300 billion a year by 2035 in public finance for climate action in developing countries.

                  This is the preferred option of European countries, which have opposed reopening finance talks in Belem.

                  Gender Action Plan negotiations still haggling over definitions 

                  The latest draft of the Gender Action Plan (GAP) was released yesterday and has six footnotes, four of them about the mere definition of gender. They were added by Paraguay, Argentina, Iran and the Vatican. 

                  There are also two placeholders for footnotes from Indonesia, also related to the same topic. Climate Home News understands that, even if Russia doesn’t have a footnote to its name, it is one of the main countries pushing for the use of “women and girls” instead of the word “gender”. Other blockers include Saudi Arabia and Iran.

                  “We’ve always had fights on the Gender Action Plan… but this is different. This is trying to actually push women back by having this binary definition,” said Mary Robinson, former Irish president who is now a member of the Elders. “It’s so cruel. I mean, it’s actually unbelievable that this would enter into our space.” 

                  Campaigners during a demonstration for gender justice during COP30. Photo: UN Climate Change – Kiara Worth

                  Campaigners say that this row over gender hasn’t been limited to the GAP negotiations, but forms part of a bigger, coordinated effort to backtrack on human rights language. A recent press release by the Women and Gender Constituency shows that gender references have received pushback in the negotiations on adaptation, mitigation, the Global Stocktake of climate action and the Green Climate Fund. 

                  Bridget Burns, from the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), told a press conference that in the past two years those wanting to undermine gender progress have been “emboldened by elections around the world that have shifted countries to the right”, including in the US election. In turn, she added that has triggered “a much stronger and more coordinated pushback to the pushback.” 

                  On day one of COP, 92 countries signed a “Global Statement on Gender Equality and Climate Action Ahead of COP30”, reaffirming their commitment to a strong GAP, “because there was an awareness of what we might face in this process,” said Burns. 

                  As the days went by and the negotiations seemed to unfold in a more or less peaceful way, the “Belém GAP” was supposed to appear on the first “Mutirão” decision package, but in the end it was left out as COP30 President André Correa do Lago said it was not directly related to the issues addressed in that planned decision. The topic is now being discussed in consultations led by ministers, as with other negotiating tracks. 

                  “I would like to remind President Lula and the negotiators from Brazil that President Lula was mainly elected by women in this country,” said Michelle Ferreti, founder of the Brazilian Instituto Alzira. “It’s time to honour those who put them into power.”

                  The post COP30 Bulletin Day 9: Belém package elusive as Lula steals the show appeared first on Climate Home News.

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                  EU refuses to review “strategic” mineral projects for energy transition

                  EU refuses to review “strategic” mineral projects for energy transition
                  EU refuses to review “strategic” mineral projects for energy transition
                  EU refuses to review “strategic” mineral projects for energy transition
                  EU refuses to review “strategic” mineral projects for energy transition

                  The European Commission has rejected requests by green groups to review the status of 16 controversial projects it has designated as “strategic” to shore up the bloc’s supply of critical minerals needed for the energy transition, despite environmental concerns.

                  Campaigners accused the European Union’s executive arm of being more interested in labelling projects as “strategic” to accelerate their development than ensuring they meet its environmental standards.

                  Legal experts told Climate Home News that despite the EU’s rhetoric on developing sustainable mining standards, it will be very difficult for local communities and NGOs to use the judicial system to enforce compliance with environmental safeguards.

                  Earlier this year, the European Commission labelled 47 mineral extraction, processing and recycling projects within EU member states as “strategic“, granting them preferential treatment for gaining permits and easier access to EU funding.

                    Spanning from the north of Sweden to Portugal and southern Spain, these projects are due to help the EU reach targets for sourcing more of the minerals it needs for clean energy and digital technologies within its own borders in an environmentally friendly way, while reducing its dependence on imports from China.

                    However, NGOs and local communities have accused the European Commission of a lack of transparency and of failing to engage civil society over the selection of these projects, most of which are in the early stages of development and are yet to obtain the necessary permits or conduct detailed environmental impact assessments.

                    Civil society groups challenged the decision to include around a third of projects on the strategic list, arguing that the commission had not properly assessed their sustainability. They also cited risks of social and environmental harm and human rights violations.

                    EU: Environmental compliance lies with member states

                    In total, 11 requests for review covering 16 of the projects planned within the EU were filed under the Aarhus Regulation, which gives NGOs the right to ask the European Commission to review administrative decisions if they are considered to violate the bloc’s environmental law.

                    In a single response shared with green groups this week, and seen by Climate Home News, the commission found that the requests to review the projects’ status were “unfounded”.

                    “A thorough assessment confirmed that all points raised by the NGOs had already been properly addressed during the selection process. All the projects concerned therefore retain their status as strategic projects,” a European Commission spokesperson told Climate Home News. They did not respond to detailed questions about their assessment.

                    Under the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act, which was adopted last year, the commission can designate mineral projects as strategic if they meet a shortlist of criteria, including that the project “would be implemented sustainably” and monitor, prevent and minimise environmental and adverse social impacts.

                    The strategic status can be revoked if projects no longer meet the criteria.

                    However, the commission said it was not its job to carry out a full and detailed assessment of whether the projects fully comply with EU environmental laws, adding that it is only required to make an “overall assessment”.

                    Rather, it argued, member states have the responsibility to ensure the projects fully comply with EU environmental standards including impacts on biodiversity and ground water as well as waste management.

                    The commission also refused to examine the social impacts of the projects on community livelihoods, health and human rights – which could arise from environmental degradation – arguing that this was outside the scope of the review mechanism under the Aarhus Regulation.

                    Campaigners have strongly criticised the response.

                    “Cosmetic”sustainability criteria

                    Ilze Tralmaka, a lawyer at Client Earth, told Climate Home News the commission’s decision showed that the designation of mineral projects as “strategic” doesn’t make them safe or sustainable, despite creating a legal presumption that they serve the public interest and protect public health and safety.

                    “While on paper, there is mention of sustainability, in practice, it’s almost cosmetic,” she said. “It seems the environmental standards are just briefly looked at and that the policy of declaring these projects as strategic is more important than real engagement with the sustainability criteria.”

                    Client Earth argues that while securing supplies of minerals for the energy transition is a legitimate goal, the status of strategic project is being “misused” to fast-track questionable mining projects.

                    Tralmaka said the European Commission should engage where there are “unanswered questions, or if there is credible information about these projects being potentially unsafe”.

                    Client Earth was part of a group of NGOs that challenged the decision to designate the Barroso lithium project in Portugal as a strategic project.

                    Europe’s largest lithium deposit has been discovered underground at Covas de Barroso in northern Portugal. British company Savannah Resources wants to create Europe s largest open-cast lithium mine by 2026. Core sample showing granite and diffuse lithium on June 14, 2023. (Photo: © Henrique Campos/Hans Lucas)

                    Europe’s largest lithium deposit has been discovered underground at Covas de Barroso in northern Portugal. British company Savannah Resources wants to create Europe s largest open-cast lithium mine by 2026. Core sample showing granite and diffuse lithium on June 14, 2023. (Photo: © Henrique Campos/Hans Lucas)

                    “Textbook example of how not to do a green transition”

                    London-listed Savannah Resources is planning to dig four open pit mines in the northern Barroso region to extract lithium from Europe’s largest known deposit. The company says it will extract enough lithium every year to produce around half a million batteries for electric vehicles.

                    However, local groups have staunchly opposed the mining project, citing concerns over waste management and water use as well as the impact of the mine on traditional agriculture in the area.

                    Earlier this year, a UN committee found that Portugal had failed to respect citizens’ rights to information and public participation in the case of the Barroso project. Portuguese authorities denied the breach.

                    Efforts to green lithium extraction face scrutiny over water use 

                    The commission said it was satisfied with the project’s overall sustainability credentials and that campaign groups should take a case to their national court if they are concerned about the legality of any project.

                    “This decision shows that the EU is willing to trade rural lives and irreplaceable landscapes for a political headline,” said Nik Völker of MiningWatch Portugal. “The truth is, the Mina do Barroso mine offers minimal benefits and enormous risks: a textbook example of how not to do a green transition.”

                    Savannah Resources did not respond to a request for comment.

                    “Murky” standards make legal challenge hard

                    Simon Simanovski, a business and human rights attorney with German law firm Günther Rechtsanwälte, has advised dozens of communities affected by projects designated as “strategic” under the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act over the past year.

                    For him, the commission’s response creates a disconnect between its role as a decision-making body and the responsibility for enforcing the bloc’s environmental laws, by pushing it to member states. That, he said, creates “murky standards”.

                    This, he added, will make it “really difficult” to challenge inadequate environmental safeguards through the courts. “It means that there is no effective judicial protection… and that the projects will happen,” he told Climate Home News.

                    However, Simanovski still expects some campaign groups to try filing a case before the general court of the European Court of Justice to challenge the European Commission’s response and ask it to review its assessment of the projects.

                    Simanovski represents communities in Serbia that are also challenging the “strategic” designation of the Jadar lithium mine – one of an additional 13 “strategic projects” located outside EU countries – which has seen massive local opposition.

                    The commission is expected to respond to requests to review those external strategic projects in January.

                    The post EU refuses to review “strategic” mineral projects for energy transition appeared first on Climate Home News.

                    Source Link EU refuses to review “strategic” mineral projects for energy transition
                    Climate Home News

                    PORTUGAL - DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE OPENING OF A LITHIUM MINE IN COVAS DO BARROSO
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                    Proposal for global minerals deal meets opposition as China looks away

                    Proposal for global minerals deal meets opposition as China looks away
                    Proposal for global minerals deal meets opposition as China looks away
                    Proposal for global minerals deal meets opposition as China looks away
                    Proposal for global minerals deal meets opposition as China looks away
                    Proposal for global minerals deal meets opposition as China looks away

                    Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iran are among countries opposed to discussing options for agreeing on global norms to protect people and the planet from the impacts of mining, processing and recycling minerals needed for the clean energy transition, documents seen by Climate Home News show.

                    Environment officials gathered in Nairobi, Kenya, ahead of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) next week are discussing a resolution by Colombia and Oman that aims to make mineral supply chains more transparent and sustainable at a time when growing demand is spurring resource-rich countries to court investment and boost production.

                    They have proposed the creation of an expert group to identify a range of binding and non-binding international instruments “for coordinated global action on the environmentally sound management of minerals and metals” from mining to recycling. The group would also look at how to handle mining waste and provide guidelines on recovering minerals from tailings responsibly.

                    Those instruments could range from a global minerals treaty to a non-binding declaration or set of standards on best practice. The resolution is co-sponsored by Armenia, Ecuador and Zambia.

                    Colombia has previously called for an international minerals treaty to define rules and standards that would make mineral value chains more transparent and accountable.

                    China, US on the sidelines for now

                    But Iran, Russia and Saudi Arabia, which is emerging as a major player in mineral supply chains, oppose launching a process that could lead to an international agreement on the issue, according to several sources and documents shared with Climate Home News.

                    Countries will vote on the proposal next week, during the seventh session of UNEA, the world’s top decision-making body for environmental matters.

                    China, which dominates the processing of 19 of 20 minerals deemed critical for the global economy, has so far stayed quiet about the proposal, but analysts said Beijing was unlikely to support any supranational initiative to govern mineral supply chains.

                    China’s priority is “to remain sovereign throughout the process of how these minerals are produced and traded” and to promote cooperation “on its own terms”, said Christian-Géraud Neema, an expert on Chinese engagement in Africa’s transition minerals sector and the Africa editor of the China-Global South Project.

                      The US, which has been trying to counter China’s critical minerals clout, is not attending UNEA, while the EU – another major global market – is understood to broadly support the proposal. 

                      A spokesperson for the US State Department said: “Our team in Nairobi is focused on the US-Kenya relationship and delivering results for the American people, rather than litigating endless woke climate change theater.” The European Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

                      Several other countries have raised objections. Chile, a top producer of copper and lithium, wants to narrow the focus of the resolution to voluntary cooperation on illegal mining.

                      In Africa, most countries back the Colombia-Oman proposal, but Uganda and Egypt oppose it, said Nsama Chikwanka, director of Publish What You Pay Zambia, an NGO focused on resource sovereignty.

                      “Race to the bottom”

                      Campaigners say countries should unite at UNEA to pave the way for talks on the issue, with some saying binding rules should be the eventual target.

                      “The investments that are coming to countries like Zambia are from multinational enterprises and national laws are inadequate to ensure that robust standards are applied. So we need something that is internationally binding,” Chikwanka said.

                      This comes after opposition from China and Russia thwarted a push by mineral-rich developing countries as well as the UK, the European Union and Australia to reflect the environmental and social risks associated with mining-related activities in the outcome of COP30.

                      “What we are seeing at the moment is a huge race to the bottom of environmental standards at the same time as the impacts of mining are already immense,” said Johanna Sydow, a resource policy expert who heads the international environmental policy division of Germany’s Heinrich-Böll Foundation.

                      “It is the chance now to create a long-lasting space for governments to work together on this issue,” she told Climate Home News.

                      Zambia reels from acid spills at copper mines

                      Farmers Nelson Banda and Elizabeth Bwalya stand in a field of maize burnt by a major acid spill at the Sino-Metals Leach Zambia copper mine in February (Photo: Stafrance Zulu)

                      The race to extract minerals like lithium, nickel, copper, cobalt and rare earths needed to manufacture batteries, solar panels, wind turbines and other advanced digital and military technologies has led to growing cases of human rights violations, social conflict and environmental harms around the world.

                      In Indonesia, nickel mining is fuelling deforestation, in Zambia, copper mining has led to catastrophic leaks of mining waste and in Latin America, Indigenous Peoples say the rush to extract lithium for batteries is trampling their rights.

                      In 2024 alone, the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre recorded 156 allegations of human rights abuses linked to the mining of energy transition minerals.

                      Counter-proposals favour non-binding measures

                      Opposed to global discussions about possible binding tools to govern mineral supply chains, Saudi Arabia and Iran have instead suggested the creation of a technical platform that could review the impacts of mineral extraction in developing countries, explore options for support to address them, and advance voluntary cooperation on environmentally-sound practices.

                      Digging beyond oil: Saudi Arabia bids to become a hub for energy transition minerals

                      Saudi Arabia is already cooperating with mineral-rich nations on its own terms by investing billions of dollars in transition minerals abroad in a bid to become a global mineral processing hub that could become a counterweight to China’s dominance.

                      China, meanwhile, threw its weight behind a G20 agreement on a voluntary and non-binding Critical Minerals Framework intended to ensure that mineral resources “become a driver of prosperity and sustainable development”.

                      At the G20 leaders’ summit in South Africa last month, which was snubbed by the US, China also launched an economic and trade initiative on minerals, aiming to secure access to minerals in exchange for cooperation on technology, capacity-building and financing.

                        At least 19 countries, including Cambodia, Nigeria, Myanmar and Zimbabwe, alongside the UN Industrial Development Organisation, have reportedly joined the initiative.

                        For Neema, of the China-Global South Project, this is an explicit attempt to counter resource diplomacy by the US, which is offering developing countries security and military support in exchange for minerals.

                        “Producing countries in the Global South are more likely to be attracted by this approach because they know that the likelihood of Chinese companies and banks showing up is quite high,” he said.

                        The post Proposal for global minerals deal meets opposition as China looks away appeared first on Climate Home News.

                        Source Link Proposal for global minerals deal meets opposition as China looks away
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                        US and EU critical minerals project could displace thousands in DRC – report

                        US and EU critical minerals project could displace thousands in DRC – report

                        Global Witness says plan to upgrade railway line to Angola puts up to 1,200 buildings at risk of demolition

                        Up to 6,500 people are at risk of being displaced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by a multi-billion-dollar infrastructure project funded by the EU and the US, amid a global race to secure supplies of copper, cobalt and other “critical minerals”, according to a report by campaign group Global Witness.

                        The project, labelled the Lobito Corridor, aims to upgrade the colonial-era Benguela railway from the DRC to Lobito on Angola’s coast and improve port infrastructure, as well as building a railway line to Zambia and supporting agriculture and solar power installations along the route. Angola has said it needs $4.5bn (£3.4bn) for its stretch of the line.

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                        Source Link US and EU critical minerals project could displace thousands in DRC – report
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