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Joint letter: A just and equitable critical minerals future

Joint letter: A just and equitable critical minerals future

Towards a new era of fair, rights-respecting and accountable mineral governance

Statement

13 July 2026

reading time 2 minutes

On 14 July, the UN Secretary-General will meet in New York with Member States, the private sector, civil society, and Indigenous Peoples to advance international cooperation on critical energy transition minerals. This high-level meeting is a crucial moment for the future of the energy transition. SOMO, alongside more than 110 organisations, is calling on Member States to build mineral supply chains rooted in justice, equity, rights, and accountability.

Today, the pressure to extract minerals for green technologies, artificial intelligence and military purposes has increased dramatically, entrenching historical extractive patterns. As demand for critical minerals rises, deal-making is swiftly outpacing protections and governance, making the paradigm shift even more urgent.

Impacts continue to grow, and rules are being rewritten by a handful of countries, with limited participation(opens in new window) from producing countries and affected groups. Communities, Indigenous Peoples and the environment are left to pay the price, while producing countries reap little benefits.

A civil society delegation, including SOMO, will bring to the UN a joint letter(opens in new window) signed by 114 organisations worldwide, urging member states to prioritise cooperation over competition, ensure that the incoming UN Secretary-General prioritises justice and equity in mineral value chains, and implement the Guiding Principles of the UN Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals.

Member States have a unique opportunity to course-correct and commit to concerted action towards justice and equity. They should, among other actions:

Ensure sustained UN leadership on mineral governance;
Support resource-rich countries in advancing international cooperation;
Operationalise a strong Just Transition Mechanism at COP31 to support mineral-producing countries and put equitable mineral governance at the centre of the Just Transition Summit agenda;
Align Multilateral Development Banks with the Guiding Principles of the UN Secretary-General’s Panel;
Build partnerships that strengthen protections, deliver shared benefits and include affected communities and Indigenous Peoples in decisions; and
Advance ambitious, equitable targets and timelines for material sufficiency, efficiency and circularity.

At SOMO, we believe this final point is particularly crucial. Clear and ambitious targets will help drive the economic transformation needed for a more equitable and efficient use of resources, while reducing pressure on people and the planet and lessening dependence on raw-material extraction.

Read the full letter and list of signatories here(opens in new window) .