From lithium to nickel: How the UN is helping countries make the most of critical minerals

Digging it out of the ground is probably the easiest part of the process.

Around the world, the UN helps countries ensure these precious resources create decent jobs, protect the environment, and benefit local communities – not just global supply chains.

Argentina: Putting communities at the center of the lithium boom

Argentina has the world’s largest lithium reserves, making it a major supplier of batteries used in electric vehicles and renewable energy.

The United Nations helps ensure local communities have a say in how development takes place. This supports dialogue between governments, companies, workers and indigenous communities so that they can jointly address issues ranging from environmental protection to economic opportunities.

PBB is also helping provinces strengthen their financial planning so that more of the benefits of lithium can be felt by local communities, while supporting skills training and efforts to attract more women into the sector.

Democratic Republic of the Congo: Turning mineral wealth into economic growth

The Democratic Republic of the Congo produces approx 70 percent of the world’s cobalta mineral that is important for many rechargeable batteries used in electric vehicles and energy storage.

The United Nations supports efforts to ensure that the country’s vital mineral wealth contributes to broader economic development. This includes helping strengthen public policy, encouraging responsible business behavior, and supporting local businesses so they can participate in the emerging battery and electric vehicle supply chain.

Indonesia: Getting more value from nickel

Indonesia is a major producer of nickel, a mineral essential for many electric vehicle batteries.

Rather than relying solely on exports of raw materials, the country is seeking to expand higher-value manufacturing at home.

The UN is supporting these efforts by helping raise industrial production standards, encouraging cleaner manufacturing, and increasing domestic value added across the critical mineral supply chain.

PBB also helps strengthen occupational safety and health in the mining sector, develop environmentally friendly skills needed to face economic changes and share Indonesia’s experience with other mineral producing countries through South-South cooperation in sustainable mining and responsible resource governance.

Kazakhstan: Making mining cleaner and more accountable

Kazakhstan seeks to strengthen governance of its critical minerals sector as global demand for these resources continues to increase.

The United Nations supports efforts to strengthen oversight of critical mineral supply chains by helping to align national frameworks with international standards and identifying risks associated with crime, corruption and weak accountability.

The support also includes improving mine safety and labor standards, as well as encouraging responsible business behavior in line with the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rightsand exploring ways to recover valuable raw materials from e-waste to reduce the need for new extraction.

Zambia: Mining new local jobs

Zambia’s rich mineral resources have an important role to play in the green energy transition. The United Nations helps ensure that mining also creates new opportunities for workers, local businesses and communities.

The support includes developing a national mining skills strategy, preparing workers for jobs in mining and the battery value chain, and helping small and medium-sized businesses to participate in the emerging electric vehicle supply chain.

The UN is also working with small-scale and small-scale miners to improve safety, strengthen environmental protection and support formalization.

Local communities participate in monitoring the environmental impacts of mining with governments, universities and mining companies, helping to build confidence in mining projects.

Material collected by the UN Development Coordination Office