The Asia Pacific Transition Mineral Accountability Working Group (AP-TMA WG) calls for transition mineral governance to be more explicitly integrated into the outcomes and follow-up of the first Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels held in Santa Marta.
There can be no global transition without Asia Pacific. If transition pathways in the region are undermined by climate vulnerability, fossil dependence or mining-related conflict, the global transition will not be safe, stable or durable. As a regional network working at the intersection of energy transition and extractive governance, we welcome Santa Marta’s emphasis on avoiding new forms of extractive dependence and building territorially grounded, people-centred transitions. But a critical gap remains: Santa Marta has not yet fully confronted how the transition minerals and supply chains that form the material foundations of the energy transition will be governed, and on whose terms. As the process moves forward, closing this gap will be essential to avoid reproducing environmental destruction, climate inequity and resource dependency under the name of green extractivism.
CLOSING A CRITICAL IMPLEMENTATION GAP
Across Asia and the Pacific, and globally, the rapid expansion of transition mineral extraction has had severe impacts on communities’ lands, livelihoods and rights. Nickel, cobalt, lithium, and rare earth supply chains are accelerating in response to global demand, often in contexts where regulatory frameworks remain weak, civic space is constrained, and communities face significant barriers to participation and remedy.
Further, the extractive sector remains a significant contributor to the climate crisis, with the industry responsible for 8 to 28 percent of global GHG emissions. Transition mineral value chains are carbon intensive; processing and manufacturing often rely on
fossil-fuel-dependent baseload energy. We cannot “green” the global economy by “browning” the landscapes of the Global South.
The conference itself acknowledges that transitioning away from fossil fuels requires broad economic transformation, inclusive participation, and the prevention of new extractive dependencies. Ensuring that these principles are fully realized requires closer alignment between fossil fuel phase-out pathways and the governance of transition mineral supply chains.
The AP-TMA Working Group strongly endorses the People’s Declaration for a Rapid, Equitable, and Just Transition for a Fossil-Free Future, especially Principle Eight on the Sustainable and Equitable Management of Transition Minerals.
This principle addresses a major gap in global transition debates by demanding transparency, traceability, accountability, no-go zones in sacred and ecologically sensitive territories, and the highest human rights, labour, gender, environmental, and financial standards across the entire mineral value chain.
Transition minerals must advance a fossil-free, rights-based future, not deepen overconsumption, militarism, corporate profit, or harm to people and nature.
In addition, the conference highlights the importance of energy security in light of global disruptions, including tensions affecting critical supply routes such as the Strait of Hormuz. For many countries in Asia and the Pacific, these dynamics underscore the urgency of strengthening energy sovereignty. However, the AP-TMA WG issues a stern warning: geopolitical disruptions must not be weaponized by the Global North as a justification to bypass environmental and social safeguards. Supply chain “resilience” for wealthy nations cannot be built upon the forced acceleration of mining that ignores the sovereignty of communities in the Asia Pacific.
As global demand for both energy and minerals intensifies, countries in our region must be supported to pursue transition pathways that enhance domestic climate resilience, protect community rights, and avoid new forms of external energy dependency.
We welcome the participation of countries from the region to the “coalition of the willing” in particular, Australia, the Philippines, and Mongolia in the Santa Marta conference.
We also note the absence of several fossil fuel and transition mineral producing countries from Asia and the Pacific, including India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste. .
Their perspectives, alongside those of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in non-represented countries, are essential to ensuring that transition pathways are grounded in lived realities and reflect the full diversity of global experiences.
OUR CALL TO ACTION
- Explicitly integrate transition mineral governance into all fossil fuel phase out frameworks, including within UNFCCC processes and Santa Marta workstreams
- Include and enforce integrity, transparency and conflict of interest safeguards into UNFCCC processes to reduce the influence of fossil fuel industries.
- Adopt binding, rights-based standards across mineral supply chains, aligned with international human rights law and community-defined principles
- Ensure full participation and consent of affected Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLC), including the right to say no and recognition of Indigenous knowledge systems, and decision-making authority
- Strengthen Global South leadership, particularly from Asia and the Pacific, in shaping transition pathways, including through South–South cooperation and regional platforms.
- Align energy transition strategies with the principles of energy security and the Common But Differentiated Responsibilities, especially as the process moves toward the next Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels conference in Tuvalu and broader pre-COP31 engagements in the Pacific region
- Demand unconditional technology access and transfer to ensure that mineral-rich countries in Asia and the Pacific can build their own green industrial value chains, moving beyond the role of mere raw material exporters.
- Remove ISDS clauses that allow corporations to sue governments for climate action, extractive industry regulation, or stronger mineral governance, as these mechanisms undermine democratic sovereignty and enable corporate impunity.
- Deliver grant-based and non debt-creating climate and transition finance for climate-vulnerable countries in Asia and the Pacific and the Global South, so communities are not forced into debt to address a crisis they did not create.
We also commend the decision to carry this process forward to a second conference co-hosted by Tuvalu. Pacific Island states have long demonstrated principled leadership on climate justice, and their role in shaping the next phase of this process presents an important opportunity to further embed frontline leadership, climate equity, resilience, and international solidarity at the center of global transition efforts.
The AP-TMA WG stands ready to engage constructively in the Santa Marta process and to support efforts that ensure the transition is equitable, accountable, and grounded in the rights and realities of communities affected across the transition mineral and green technology supply chain.