RIYADH - Industrial development and the global energy transition both require critical minerals and metals. As a result, demand for minerals like cobalt, nickel, lithium and copper is estimated to increase by 500% by 2050.

To promote a socially responsible and environmentally sound mining sector, UNIDO’s Director General, Gerd Müller, announced the establishment of a “Global Alliance and Partnership for Responsible and Green Minerals”, in cooperation with international partners and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, at the Ministerial Roundtable of the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh. All countries are invited to participate, although initially countries at the forefront of critical minerals mining in Africa, Asia and Latin America will be targeted to join, many of them developing and least developed countries.

In his opening remarks of the Ministerial Roundtable, Müller emphasized that “without critical minerals, there is no green energy transition, no green industrialization". He highlighted that “a Global Alliance for Responsible and Green Minerals, with binding environmental and social standards for the mining industry and an independent certification system, has advantages for all market participants. It creates a real win-win situation for the countries with the raw materials. It will increase local value addition and production alongside jobs in the mining regions, and hundreds of millions of people, primarily in artisanal and small-scale mining, will benefit from living wages, adherence to fundamental human rights, as well as standards in the sector. Finally, it will help reduce and minimize damage to the environment.”

The Alliance will work to set up international guidelines and benchmarks for sustainable critical minerals supply chains, help countries with the implementation of standards and policies, supported by a sound certification system. Participating countries and industry stakeholders will benefit from knowledge transfer and capacity building. Alignment of policy, technology and financing approaches will be at the core of the new Alliance, promoting a fair and green sector that supports inclusive and sustainable economic development.

UNIDO will support with policy advice, capacity building, and implementation of standards and certification, and will act as the convener of this Alliance, bringing together governments, the mining industry, industry associations, relevant intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, international financial institutions, technology providers and academia to advance the capacities of partner countries for sustainable critical minerals supply chains.

The launch of the new Alliance and accelerating progress in promoting a sustainable mining sector globally took centre stage during Müller’s meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Bandar Alkhorayef. Saudi Arabia is an important partner of UNIDO. Director General thanked Minister Alkhorayef for the new projects of cooperation.

They also reviewed recent progress on the further strengthening of cooperation between UNIDO and Saudi Arabia. Several new flagship initiatives and concrete programmes are in the pipeline and will be launched soon. Sound industrial policy is crucial for the diversification of the Kingdom’s economy, in line with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and its National Industrial Strategy. UNIDO will support in areas such as industrial development advice, statistical data availability, and capacity building for industrial policymakers.

Supporting the diversification of Saudi Arabia’s economy was also the topic of Director General Müller’s meeting with Minister of Economy and Planning Faisal F. Al Ibrahim. They discussed avenues of cooperation to support developing countries in achieving their industrial development goals, with a particular focus on least developed countries (LDCs) and landlocked developing countries. Joint initiatives to increase local value addition and industrialization in areas like access to energy, food security through water management, agritech and agribusiness were explored. One particular issue discussed was UNIDO’s support for the development of industrial policies, statistics observatories and economic diversification strategies in the Kingdom and other Gulf Cooperation Council countries, both in terms of what UNIDO can offer for the development of methodologies and the provision of expertise as well as for implementation.

The visit of the Director General to the Kingdom further intensified the new quality of cooperation between UNIDO and Saudi Arabia. At the 20th UNIDO General Conference, UNIDO’s Member States decided that Saudi Arabia will host the next UNIDO General Conference in Riyadh from 23 to 27 November 2025.