Australia led global efforts on critical minerals at an International Energy Agency (IEA) event last week. The IEA held the inaugural Critical Minerals and Clean Energy Summit in Paris on 28 September.
Driven by strong global demand for critical minerals, the IEA is producing guidance for governments to secure these commodities. This is essential to the world’s clean energy transition.
The summit benchmarked countries’ progress on shaping global critical minerals practice and policy.
Australia has been a leading voice in the IEA to design policies, especially ones that support critical mineral producing nations.
Australia, represented by Minister for Resources Madeleine King, chaired the IEA members-only session of the summit. Victoria Pullen, General Manager of Australia’s Critical Minerals Office (CMO) and Chair of the IEA’s Critical Minerals Working Party, also addressed attendees and led the subsequent Working Party meeting.
Australia underscored the IEA’s 6 core outcomes from the summit. IEA members committed to:
- accelerate progress towards diversified minerals supplies
- unlock the power of technology and recycling
- promote transparency in markets
- enhance the availability of reliable information
- create incentives for sustainable and reliable practises
- foster international collaboration.
The IEA will meet again in February 2024 to consolidate progress and agree on next steps on its critical minerals efforts.
Australia’s engagement in the IEA is led by the Critical Minerals Office. This is a key tenet in building strong international partnerships, an objective of the Australian Government’s Critical Minerals Strategy 2023-2030.