For the first time, COP30’s draft Just Transition text acknowledges social and environmental risks from mining transition minerals for clean energy. Negotiators push for safeguards, fair benefit-sharing and sustainable supply chains to prevent new injustices and rising costs for vulnerable nations like Bangladesh.
In a landmark development, the COP30 climate conference has, for the first time, formally acknowledged the social and environmental risks associated with the extraction and processing of transition minerals, critical raw materials needed to power the global shift to clean energy.
A draft of the Just Transition Work Programme (JTWP), currently under negotiation in Belém, states: “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, are recognized.”
This marks the first explicit recognition within UN climate negotiations that the clean energy transition itself can generate new forms of harm.
Negotiators said discussions are ongoing to ensure the final text includes strong safeguards, accountability mechanisms, and fair benefit-sharing. Developing countries and civil society groups are pushing for language that guarantees that the rush for minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and rare earth elements—does not replicate historical patterns of exploitation.
Experts warn that the rapid expansion of renewable energy technologies risks triggering land conflicts, deforestation, water depletion and labour abuses, particularly in mineral-rich regions of Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia. Several countries at COP30 argued that a truly “just transition” cannot ignore the impacts generated by the clean energy supply chain itself.
Although Bangladesh is not a producer of transition minerals, delegates say the global scramble for these materials could indirectly affect the country by raising costs for solar, wind and battery storage projects, and by shaping future supply chain vulnerabilities.
“Bangladesh must track where these minerals come from,” said Sohanur Rahman, Executive Coordinator of YouthNet Global and a COP30 youth delegate. “Fair and sustainable supply chains are essential to protect our clean energy projects and climate-impacted communities.”
Observers say the inclusion of mineral-related risks represents a critical shift in global climate governance, signalling growing recognition that the energy transition must avoid creating new injustices even as it tackles the climate crisis. The final JTWP text is expected later this week.
