Pollution is a silent killer that can be stopped

Today’s report from the Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals is a how-to guide to help generate prosperity and equality alongside clean power. The report makes recommendations on critical minerals, at a crucial time.

We established the Panel in response to calls from developing countries, amid signs that the energy transition could reproduce and amplify inequalities of the past — banishing developing countries to the bottom of value chains to watch others grow rich by exploiting their people and putting their environment in jeopardy.

This report identifies ways to ground the renewables revolution in justice and equity, so that it spurs sustainable development, respects people, protects the environment and powers prosperity in resource-rich developing countries. It sets out seven guiding principles to direct action across the value chain, and five Actionable Recommendations to help put them into practice, and address key gaps in international governance.

As next steps, I have asked the co-chairs and panel to consult and share the report and its recommendations with member states and other stakeholders ahead of COP29 later this year.

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Ninety-nine percent of humanity breathes polluted air — leading to an estimated 8 million premature deaths — including more than 700,000 children under five.

Pollution is also choking economies and heating up our planet, adding fuel to the fire of the climate crisis. And it disproportionally affects those most vulnerable in society, including women, children and older persons.

Yet pollution is a silent killer that can be stopped.

Investing in clean air requires actions by both government and businesses — to phase out fossil fuels, strengthen air quality monitoring, enforce air quality standards, boost renewable energy, transition to clean cooking, build sustainable transport and sustainable waste management systems, clean up supply chains and reduce harmful emissions, including methane.

It is also critical to put a price on carbon.

At the same time, development organizations, financial institutions and philanthropies can redirect financial capital behind clean air technologies to tackle the triple planetary crisis.

Above all, we must work together at the regional and global levels.

Investing in clean air saves lives, combats climate change, strengthens economies, builds fairer societies and advances the Sustainable Development Goals.

On International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies, let’s invest now so we can breathe easy knowing we are securing a healthier planet for all.

We will bring the UN system together to support implementation of the Panel’s work, safeguarding and advancing human rights, including the rights of indigenous peoples, across the critical minerals value chain. Through all this, civil society, young people and indigenous peoples must be heard and have a seat at the table.

I thank the panel members for their work, particularly the co-chairs, Nozipho Joyce Mxakato-Diseko and Ditte Juul Jørgensen. I commend them for breaking new ground, with a set of principles and recommendations on many complex, contested issues.

Together, let’s work to deliver renewable energy that powers a fairer, more just and more prosperous future for all.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ messages on the launch of the Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals Report on 11 September 2024 and on the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies: “Invest in #CleanAirNow,” on 7 September 2024.