The global climate crisis has arrived. This year has already included the three hottest days in recorded history, with deadly extreme heat affecting much of Asia and the Middle East. Raging wildfires continue to devastate parts of North America and Europe. Record-setting floods have inundated communities from Brazil to Bangladesh. Severe droughts beset Southern Africa. Artic permafrost is in thaw. Sea levels are rising, wildfires are burning, extreme heat is crippling. The window to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and meet the goals of the Paris Agreement is closing. There is still time, humanity with a shared future must act decisively to accelerate a global energy transition. At the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, governments agreed to triple the roll out of renewable energy and double energy efficiency by 2030. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that demand for the critical energy transition minerals required to enable this global energy transition will triple by 2030, and quadruple by 2040. A transition of this magnitude brings with it tremendous opportunities, but also substantial challenges. Mining, at all scales, large and small, has too often been linked with human rights abuses, environmental degradation and conflict. Indigenous Peoples’ lands and resources have been dispossessed and the lives of local peoples upended. Responsible companies, across the entire value chain, working to reform the sector continue to face an uneven playing field, with insufficient incentives for irresponsible actors to meet acceptable standards. Yet harnessing critical energy transition minerals to build the renewable energy technologies needed to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement and net zero emissions by 2050, also has the potential to lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty through access to affordable, modern and sustainable energy and energy technologies. Developing countries as partners in the energy transition can foster development through opportunities for value addition, benefit-sharing, economic diversification and participation in the critical energy transition minerals value chains that will power the next generations, rather than serve only as the providers of raw materials. This is why the United Nations Secretary General established the Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals, to develop Guiding Principles which can serve as guardrails for the energy transition. The Panel was co-chaired by Ambassador Nozipho Joyce Mxakato-Diseko of South Africa and Director-General for Energy Ditte Juul Jørgensen of the European Commission and comprised of members diverse by geography, gender and age. The principles build on existing international norms and legal obligations to which governments have already committed and are accompanied by a set of specific, actionable recommendations so that everyone can benefit from the opportunities inherent in a transition to renewable energy. What exactly are ‘critical energy transition minerals’? They are simply the minerals necessary to construct, produce, distribute and store renewable energy. They include the copper, cobalt, nickel, lithium, graphite, rare earth elements (REEs) and aluminium required for electric vehicles and battery storage; the silicon, cadmium, tellurium and selenium (to name a few) that build solar panels. Wind power requires copper. Hydropower uses copper too, and chromium, zinc and more aluminium. For countries with the critical energy transition minerals required for these technologies – including developing countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific – the opportunity is significant. At the same time there must be no regression in the hard-won individual and collective rights of Indigenous Peoples. Respect for this is absolute. Committed to intergenerational equity, the decisions we make today will shape generations, both present and future. We must ensure past mistakes do not become the hallmarks of the future, not just where minerals are mined, but along the entire value chain from refining and manufacturing, to transport and end-of-use recycling. Meeting this challenge in a principled way can only be done if governments, business, civil society and the United Nations act together to properly manage mineral value chains, uphold the rule of law in a non-discriminatory way, respect national sovereignty, invest in true multilateralism and peacebuilding and ensure universal human rights are protected. Peace and security, as well as cooperation are paramount for humanity to benefit from these minerals. Human security should be fostered in all its forms. Resourcing the energy transition requires a new paradigm rooted in equity and justice.