The race to acquire the minerals needed for a low-carbon energy transition away from fossil fuels is on, but if this is to have a positive impact on both people and the environment, it needs to be carefully planned and monitored. Ahead of the G20 Summit from 22 to 23 November 2025 in Johannesburg, WWF is calling on the G20 to prioritise sustainable mining and has developed a discussion document titled “An agenda for responsible mining of transition minerals in Africa”.
At the outset, this document warns that we need to avoid “past patterns of extractivism in Africa – the resource curse, rent-seeking by elites, illicit financial flows, exploitative jobs, displacement and disruption of local communities, plus water, land and biodiversity impacts”.
Among these impacts are pollution and the loss of productive land, carbon sinks, biodiversity habitats, and freshwater systems.
Transition minerals are sometimes referred to as green minerals or a sub-category of critical minerals. Their defining quality is that they are essential for the transition to low-carbon technologies.
Smallest possible carbon footprint
A World Bank estimate is that there will be a 500% increase in demand for minerals such as graphite, lithium and cobalt by 2050 to meet the needs of the global just transition to a new energy order.
As many of these minerals are found in developing countries, among them South Africa, we must prepare to meet this growing demand with, as the World Bank puts it, “the smallest possible carbon footprint, while safeguarding the environment and people”.
The best way to do this is to minimise mining as far as possible by creating circular economy industries, which include reclaiming these minerals from tailings dams, slag heaps, stockpiles and mine-polluted water sources and from scrap metals and post-consumer waste.
This is an opportunity for all countries, not just those with minerals in the ground.
A South African government strategy document on the economic potential of “critical minerals and metals” concedes that mineral exploitation is linked to “environmental degradation, displacement of communities, negative health impacts, illegal mining, and the continuation of inequality”.
The issue of the sustainable development of a transition minerals industry could not be more pertinent as South Africa prepares to host the G20 nations later this year, where many of the players in this new world order will be present.
Six key recommendations
The WWF discussion document outlines six key recommendations to ensure that we are able to both benefit from this emerging industry while avoiding the mistakes of the past.
Implicit in most of these points are current failures in our mining industry, which urgently need to be addressed, along with the need to prioritise environmental sustainability.
- Circular economies: Create circular economies for transition minerals to build out new industries and jobs, and minimise the need for destructive virgin mining.
- Land-use planning: Mandate strategic land-use decision-making at a national level to establish relative benefits of different land uses and possibly “no-go areas” for mining, before a mining project’s conception and impact assessments.
- Workers’ rights: Adopt and implement legislation and action plans on work in mining, and strengthen institutions, including enforcement agencies, relating to the eradication of child labour, human trafficking and modern slavery; and to improve worker rights, in line with the decent work guidelines of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
- Sufficient funds for rehabilitation and offsets: Grant prospecting permits and mining licences only if the business case for the mine indicates sufficient funds for sustainability practices in operations, for both rehabilitation and offsets to compensate for residual negative impacts.
- Sustainability best practices: Adopt and implement best practices for sustainability during preparation, mining and post-mining. To ensure this implementation happens, aspects of these best practices should be translated into regulations; otherwise, there is no guarantee they will be followed or the necessary benefits realised.
- Global framework: Establish a global framework and mechanisms for traceability, transparency and accountability in the mining and processing of transition minerals.
To access the full document, go here.
