2023 OECD Forum on Responsible Mineral Supply Chains - Enhancing international cooperation to address the environmental impacts of mining

Date: Thursday, 27 April 2023                 

Time: 16h30 – 18h00 CET

Location: Room CC16, OECD Headquarters, Paris, France

Background

The United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) at its resumed fifth session (UNEA 5.2 in 2022) adopted resolution UNEP/EA.5/12 on the environmental aspects of minerals and metals management. In this resolution, member states and relevant relevant stakeholders along the full life cycle of minerals and metals, from both the public and private sectors, were invited to align their mining practices and their investments in mining with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and with their obligations and decisions under multilateral environmental agreements, as appropriate.

Furthermore, UNEA requested the United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) Executive Director, to convene transparent and inclusive intergovernmental regional consultations, including with relevant international organizations, with regional and multilateral environmental agreements, and with relevant stakeholders acting as observers, to feed into a global intergovernmental meeting, to develop non-prescriptive proposals that could enhance the environmental sustainability of minerals and metals along their full life cycle. More concretely, these consultations will:

1. Take stock of existing activities and actions in the public and private sectors and by other relevant stakeholders to enhance the environmental sustainability of minerals and metals and identify, among other things, best practices, responsible business practices, standards, guidelines, technical tools, environmentally sustainable technologies, and the use of renewable energy in mining.
2. Identify opportunities for enhanced international cooperation, including with a view to fostering capacity-building and technological, technical, and scientific cooperation in the mining sector, in particular with developing countries.
3. Identify possible ways forward for consideration by the Environment Assembly at its sixth session, as appropriate.

The intergovernmental regional consultations will be convened from April to July 2023, including one to be held on 27-28 April for the Western European and Others Group (WEOG) in Paris. A global intergovernmental meeting will finalize the consultation process on 7-8 September 2023 in Geneva. 

It is in this context that a partner session will be convened on the margins of the 2023 OECD Forum on Responsible Mineral Supply Chains, and back-to-back with the WEOG intergovernmental consultation, to share information on the resolution and implementation process, and explore potential avenues to enhance international cooperation to promote responsible and sustainable mineral supply chains.