Response to the Canadian Government's Critical Minerals Review

With more than 85 per cent of the global population having access to less electricity than the EU average, the upcoming decades will see an unprecedented growth in electricity demand. These “critical minerals” are at the heart of many of the technologies that will enable this transition and, consequently, ensuring access central to many conversations worldwide.

Governments around the world are in the midst of devising their critical minerals strategies, and throughout the summer the Canadian Government ran a public consultation on its discussion paper on its critical minerals strategy, to which ICMM submitted a response. In our response, ICMM outlined the importance of responsible mining practices in enabling any transition to be considered both sustainable and just. Indeed, the success of any transition is largely contingent on the way the materials required are produced - unsustainable mining practices are simply antithetical to any notions of a just energy transition, and people and planet must be protected.

ICMM’s submission to the consultation can be found here.