As the world races toward a future powered by renewable energy, critical minerals have never been so sought-after.

These essential components — cobalt, lithium, rare earth elements — form the backbone of technologies driving the green revolution.

But geopolitics and a divided world get in the way: while the potential lack of minerals threatens our collective capacity to achieve that energy transition, we face export restrictions, competing initiatives excluding one another, divergent regulatory standards and investments that are scattered at best, absent at worst.

We know that no country can go it alone, and that climate change can only be tackled on a global level, but there is a continued lack of collective will to solve these challenges.

Why ask for more global collaboration towards more action, more norms, more oversight?

Some might argue that the free market will resolve these issues – let the “invisible hand” of Adam Smith do its job: demand will increase, prices will rise, and supply will adjust. And yet textbook market failures abound: unaccounted negative externalities, quasi-monopolies dominating the market, information asymmetry leaving it in the hands of opaque traders and high transaction costs.

The cloud of reputational risk hanging around the mining industry certainly doesn’t help.

Beyond the economic costs, feeble returns and uncertainties which already make risk-adverse investors recoil, there is the historical legacy of such mines: soil pollution, human rights abuse and water stress all make the very necessary social license to operate precarious.

And what about at the end of the mining cycle? What about closure and rehabilitation? How does a free market work to cover those costs?

80,000 inactive and unused mine sites can be found across Australia, with around 82% potentially requiring rehabilitation. Some of them are in danger of spilling toxic waste.

That is what could await us in the future, on a global scale, without purposeful and coordinated global action. Fragmenting global supply chains, financing mining projects without addressing negative externalities, and trading minerals on opaque markets are all inefficient and costly approaches for all stakeholders involved.

There is a need to find consensus, reconcile diverging voices and interests, and nudge the world towards our collective goal: a sufficient supply of responsible minerals to achieve the energy transition at the global level.

Doing this will require strengthened international collaboration on five aspects:

• Addressing these challenges will mean setting up frameworks and tools that do not yet exist today: there is currently no international agreement, agency, platform or fund solely dedicated to transition minerals, despite their crucial role in our future.

• There is a dire need for increased investment, whether through public-private partnerships, international funds or other instruments aimed at assuaging risk-averse actors and securing requisite funds for projects along the supply chain. It has been estimated that US$1.7 trillion over the next 15 years investment in mining will be needed to achieve the energy transition and we are far from reaching that target.

• The participation of developing resource-rich countries to this work is absolutely crucial. We need to find ways to assist them in transforming their mineral resource wealth into economic development. Value-added wealth creation cannot occur in isolation; it requires essential conditions such as infrastructure, rule of law, transparency, and skilled workers. Capacity-building practices and incentives will be vital in establishing these pre-existing conditions.

• As aforementioned, the market for minerals will grow in the future and there will be a need for more transparency, regulation and oversight to build trust and develop existing derivatives markets.

• Finally, global cooperation should be enhanced on the issues of environmental and social sustainability. This may involve harmonizing existing standards, ensuring the economic viability of green minerals, or developing a global framework for circularity. The energy transition must not come at the expense of biodiversity and social conflict.

We all recognize the immense challenges surrounding critical minerals and the energy transition. These issues demand urgent and concerted action, a sentiment echoed across continents and sectors. In response, we have launched the Global Council for Responsible Transition Minerals: a multi-continental, high-level, and independent body.

This Council is not just another committee.

t aims to break down silos and foster genuine collaboration by identifying shared interests, shaping the conversation with insightful policy recommendations, and leveraging the collective expertise and influence of its members.

The Council represents a diverse and autonomous coalition of leaders from governments, civil society, and the private sector, united by a common mission: to forge a path toward a more sustainable and cooperative future.