As the extraction of critical minerals accelerates to match the needs of the energy transition, the Secretary-General’s Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals was formed to consider and provide recommendations on how countries and communities endowed with these resources can fully benefit economically, while ensuring their sustainable development, the upholding of human rights and the protection of the environment, in support of a global just and equitable transition, including the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. The Panel was also asked to consider steps to strengthen international cooperation and develop a set of common and voluntary principles to build trust, guide the transition and accelerate the race to renewables.
The Panel’s report sets out seven Guiding Principles to direct action across the value chain, and five Actionable Recommendations to help put them into practice and address key gaps in international governance.
The Secretary-General instructed the UN system to work together to advance the Panel’s Guiding Principles and Actionable Recommendations. In October 2025, the Secretary-General endorsed the establishment of the United Nations Task Force on Critical Energy Transition Minerals, which was launched in December 2025. Composed of over 20 entities and building on existing efforts and structures, the Task Force works to improve coordination across the system across all Guiding Principles and Actionable Recommendations, and provide targeted and tailored country-level support to developing countries through a Country Support Mechanism.
UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) co-chair the Task Force, with the support of the Executive Office of the Secretary-General, and coordinate system activity. The Task Force will work to provide developing countries a coordinated and strengthened offer of UN support, including through robust technical work and strengthened capacity-building efforts.
The Task Force is action-driven and will prioritize strengthening United Nations support for developing countries through the following objectives:
- Support global action across the mineral value chain and in line with country priorities to implement the Guiding Principles and Actionable Recommendations outlined in the Panel’s report by coordinating, aligning and strengthening United Nations work, including through a dedicated Country Support Mechanism; and
- Develop tailored knowledge products and capacity-building tools across the five Actionable Recommendations through thematic Technical Clusters.
The Task Force works through five Technical Clusters, one for each Actionable Recommendation, each producing analytical work and knowledge products and supported by a voluntary Network of Experts drawn from governments, international organizations and non-State actors. Alongside the Clusters, the Country Support Mechanism, led by UNDP with the United Nations Development Coordination Office, is the Task Force’s operational instrument for coordinated UN support at country level.
Objective of the Project
By the end of 2026, the Task Force will have established and advanced work under five Technical Clusters aligned with the Panel’s Actionable Recommendations. The Country Support Mechanism will also be operationalized, with an offer of strengthened and coordinated UN support as demonstrated in an initial cohort of beneficiary countries: Guinea, Indonesia, Madagascar, Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
UNCTAD co-leads the Technical Cluster on Actionable Recommendation 1: Value Addition, Benefit-sharing and Diversification, with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), in collaboration with UNDP, and co-leads the Technical Cluster on Actionable Recommendation 2 (Traceability, Transparency, Accountability Framework and Global Market) together with the United Nations Regional Commissions — Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), and Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA). In this capacity, UNCTAD will provide coordination and secretariat support for these Technical Clusters and contribute analytical and policy work. Activities include convening expert consultations, undertaking a global assessment of trade policies affecting critical energy transition minerals, and preparing an analytical study outlining core principles for traceability, transparency and accountability in mineral value chains. In addition, UNCTAD will also support the implementation of the Country Support Mechanism by conducting scoping missions in the initial cohort of beneficiary countries to identify opportunities for value addition and economic diversification.
The activities and intended outcomes of UNCTAD’s contribution are outlined below.
Activities
Coordination and secretariat support
- Operational coordination of work under the Technical Clusters on Actionable Recommendations 1 and 2, including secretariat functions, inter-agency coordination and targeted resource mobilization, as well as participation in the Task Force annual meeting and selected events for dissemination and resource mobilization.
Actionable Recommendation 1: Accelerate greater benefit-sharing, value addition and economic diversification
- Expert consultations with the Technical Cluster’s Network of Experts (from May 2026, continuing into 2027) covering four areas: value addition and economic diversification; trade; benefit-sharing, including taxation and fiscal policy; and the enforcement of human rights, environmental, governance, social and climate safeguards, informing the global trade assessment and country-level scoping work.
- Global assessment of trade policies and instruments affecting CETMs (1st quarter of 2027), with a focus on resilience, diversification and value addition along critical energy transition mineral value chains.
Actionable Recommendation 2: Traceability for accountability
- Phased expert consultations with the Technical Cluster’s Network of Experts, starting with Global Consultations (May–June 2026) and ad hoc consultations with stakeholder groups (July–December 2026), with thematic and regional consultations planned for 2027, to discuss existing approaches, core design principles and implementation challenges related to traceability, transparency and accountability in critical energy transition mineral value chains.
- Analytical study (September–October 2026) identifying the scope and core design principles for a global framework on traceability, transparency and accountability in critical energy transition mineral value chains.
Intended Outcomes
UNCTAD’s contribution is expected to support global action across the mineral value chain, in line with country priorities, to implement the UN Guiding Principles and Actionable Recommendations on Critical Energy Transition Minerals. Specifically:
- UNCTAD effectively performs its designated coordination and secretariat functions for the Technical Clusters on Actionable Recommendations 1 and 2.
- Analytical approaches are validated through expert consultation, ensuring that the work of the Technical Clusters on Actionable Recommendations 1 and 2 reflects diverse country perspectives, particularly those of resource-endowed developing countries.
- Policy-relevant findings inform trade policymaking, trade agreement discussions and international cooperation on critical energy transition minerals, identifying risks, opportunities and good practices relevant to developing countries.
- An agreed set of core principles for traceability, transparency and accountability is articulated and validated with developing-country experts, guiding coherence across existing and emerging initiatives.
Link to the SDGs
The project contributes to:
- SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
- SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
- SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
- SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
- SDG 13: Climate Action
- SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
- SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals
Monitoring and Evaluation
Progress will be assessed against the indicators of achievement agreed with the donor, including:
- Expert consultations held under the Technical Clusters on Actionable Recommendations 1 and 2, with participation of experts from developing and developed countries, international organizations and relevant stakeholders and rights holders.
- Completion of an analytical study on traceability, transparency and accountability principles, and progress towards the global assessment of trade policies affecting critical energy transition minerals.
- Coordination and secretariat functions for the Technical Clusters on Actionable Recommendations 1 and 2 effectively performed.
Final narrative report to the Executive Office of the Secretary-General, covering achievement of expected outcomes and delivery of outputs, by the end of November 2026, and final financial report by the end of December 2026.
Project Code
TPAV
Partners
United Nations Task Force on Critical Energy Transition Minerals
Donors
Executive Office of the Secretary-General, through the Secretary-General's Climate Action Team
Beneficiaries
Global
Duration
2026-2027