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With demand for minerals critical to renewable energy technologies expected to almost triple by 2030, global and regional leaders gathered at the EU Raw Materials Week 2024 to address the critical challenge governing mineral resources essential for the energy transition. In a key session, UN
Critical raw materials (CRMs) such as copper, lithium, cobalt, and rare earth elements are essential for the energy transition, but their extraction often causes deforestation, water pollution, and social disruption, especially in vulnerable communities.    To help shift current CRM
To establish sustainable and ethical practices for sourcing critical minerals, it is crucial to prioritize human rights, gender equality, and youth engagement. It is also imperative to integrate protection of human rights into resource management. The central focus should be women’s empowerment
Accurate mineral reporting and classification in the global mining industry is needed to ensure transparency, reliability, and comparability of data, facilitating informed investment and decision-making by governments and all stakeholders for sustainable resource management practices. This will
In Cornwall, United Kingdom, a pioneering initiative is underway to optimize resource management for critical raw materials projects. Applying the United Nations Resource Management System (UNRMS) is helping to transform the region's approach to resource extraction, processing, and sustainability.
Faced with increasing impacts of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss, which together constitute the “triple planetary crisis”, no country can act alone. Like nature itself, these challenges know no borders, which makes international cooperation a crucial part of action to address them.
Critical Raw Materials (CRM) like lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper, manganese, graphite and rare earth elements are crucial for renewable energy technologies like solar panels, wind turbines and for battery production, driving the global shift to electrification. Yet with surging demand,
Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) are essential for the production and deployment of low-carbon technologies, such as wind turbines, solar panels, electric vehicles, and batteries. However, they also pose significant challenges regarding supply, demand, environmental and social impacts, and governance
The massive shift to renewable energy and green technologies needed to meet the obligations under the Paris Agreement will require an exponential increase in the use of critical raw materials (rare earths, lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper, silicon etc.) by 2050.    The EU currently
A UN Framework to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of energy resource management is sparking significant interest from geothermal experts, signaling strong potential to unlock its contribution to climate action and sustainable development.  The United Nations Framework Classification
At EU Raw Materials Week, European decision-makers have joined calls for governments to further implement the UN frameworks on sustainable resource management. Given the climate emergency and the urgent need for profound low-carbon transitions, there is a rapidly growing demand for critical raw
Heatwaves and droughts are drying rivers and freshwater sources, spreading desertification and accelerating soil erosion. Food production is under severe threat everywhere, raising the spectre of famine and mass starvation. As nature gasps for survival, people scramble to get hold of diminishing
The Ministry of Natural Resources of the People’s Republic of China has a long-standing cooperation with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe to promote the harmonization, development and connectivity of global solid mineral and petroleum classification standards.  The United
Guidance for the Application of the United Nations Framework Classification (UNFC) for Mineral and Anthropogenic Resources in Europe (UNFC Guidance Europe) was approved by international experts meeting in Geneva and online for the 13th session of the Expert Group on Resource Management. The
Without scaled-up efforts to finance and sustainably manage the Critical Raw Materials needed for a rapid renewables and clean energy shift, countries of the pan-European region and North America will face huge challenges to deliver on the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals, the
If business as usual continues greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are projected to rise, leading to a median global warming of 3.2°C by 2100. Deep and quick decarbonization of heavy industries is needed, and sustainable hydrogen could be the key ingredient.   Hydrogen is already strongly
Bold and sustained action must start now and maximize the use of all low- and zero-carbon technologies if we are to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, warns the Roadmap to carbon neutrality for Europe, North America, and Central Asia released today by UNECE in the lead up to critical climate talks
    The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) welcomes comments to support the implementation of a universally applicable scheme for the sustainable management of all energy and mineral resources. Draft Guidance for the Application of the United Nations Framework
Micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), and women-led MSMEs in particular, have been especially vulnerable to the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis. However, the crisis has also caused a dramatic shift in the business-as-usual approach and paved the way for innovations, green growth, and