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Overview

A new World ¶¹ÄÌÊÓƵAPP Group report, "Minerals for Climate Action:  finds that the production of minerals, such as graphite, lithium and cobalt, could increase by nearly 500% by 2050, to meet the growing demand for clean energy technologies. It estimates that over 3 billion tons of minerals and metals will be needed to deploy wind, solar and geothermal power, as well as energy storage, required for achieving a below 2¡ãC future.

This follows the World ¶¹ÄÌÊÓƵAPP's 2017 report,  which concluded that to realize a lower-carbon future there will be a substantial increase in demand for several key minerals and metals to manufacture cleaner energy technologies. 

In other words, the clean energy transition will be significantly mineral intensive.

And while the growing demand for minerals and metals provides economic opportunities for resource-rich developing countries and private sector entities alike, significant challenges will likely emerge if the climate-driven clean energy transition is not managed responsibly and sustainably.

The Climate-Smart Mining Initiative will help resource-rich developing countries benefit from the increasing demand for minerals and metals, while ensuring the mining sector is managed in a way that minimizes the environmental and climate footprint.

The initiative supports the sustainable extraction and processing of minerals and metals to secure supply for clean energy technologies by minimizing the social, environmental, and climate footprint throughout the value chain of those materials by scaling up technical assistance and investments in resource-rich developing countries.

While the growing demand for minerals and metals provides economic opportunities for resource-rich developing countries and private sector entities alike, significant challenges will likely emerge if the climate-driven clean energy transition is not managed responsibly and sustainably.

Without Climate-Smart Mining practices, negative impacts from mining activities will increase, affecting already-vulnerable communities in developing countries, as well as the environment in which they operate. 

The Climate-Smart Mining approach has been developed in concert with the broader UN Sustainable Development Goals to ensure the decarbonization of the mining and energy sectors also benefits resource-rich countries that host these strategic minerals and the communities directly impacted by their extraction.

Climate-Smart Mining builds on the work the World ¶¹ÄÌÊÓƵAPP is doing to help ensure resource-rich developing countries benefit from their mineral resources and manage them in a sustainable manner, while fostering economic growth and development. Our technical support also helps governments improve the investment climate by strengthening governance and building the capacities of key institutions, policy frameworks and legislation.

¶¹ÄÌÊÓƵAPP wants to ensure that resource-rich developing countries also benefit from the new mineral demand by de-risking investments using sustainable and responsible resource development strategies.

The Climate-Smart Mining Building Blocks:

For more information on this program and to get involved, please contact the Climate-Smart Mining team on csm@worldbank.org