Draft on energy transition advances in indigenous and Afro-descendant rights, but removes impact from critical minerals

Published in the early hours of this Friday (21), the document may still be changed because the negotiation work has not been officially concluded. It is the first time that the text mentions the Free and Informed Prior Consultation for indigenous peoples and mentions isolated indigenous peoples.

Jullie Pereira

The text of the Just Energy Transition Program arrived this Friday (21st) maintaining the rights of consultation and guarantee of broad participation of indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples in the new low-carbon economy models, which should be developed by the 195 signatory countries of the Paris Agreement. Despite this, leaders warn of changes that exclude the risk associated with the exploitation of critical minerals. The text may still be altered because the negotiations have not been officially concluded.

This text was created in 2022, at the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt, but this is the first time that the rights of Afro-descendant peoples have been considered. They were included in the preliminary discussions in June, when the Bonn Climate Change Conference took place, and remained included in the consolidated document at the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30).

The text states: “[Consider] the importance of ensuring broad and meaningful participation involving all relevant stakeholders, including workers affected by transitions, informal workers, people in vulnerable situations, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, migrants and internally displaced persons, people of African descent, women, children, youth, older people and people with disabilities, to enable effective, inclusive and participatory just transition pathways.”

It is also the first time the text mentions Free, Prior and Informed Consultation for Indigenous peoples and, especially, mentions isolated Indigenous groups. In this case, the inclusion occurred in the first review in Belém, on November 14th.

Regarding isolated Indigenous peoples, the text guarantees: “the importance of the rights of Indigenous Peoples and of obtaining their free, prior and informed consent, in accordance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the importance of ensuring that all just transition pathways respect and promote the internationally recognized collective and individual rights of Indigenous Peoples, including the right to self-determination, and recognize the rights and protections of Indigenous Peoples in voluntary isolation and in initial contact, in accordance with relevant international human rights instruments and principles.”

“We are almost at the finish line to see a separate paragraph in the Just Transition Work Programme on the right of Indigenous peoples to live in the face of global warming—including our right to self-determination and our right to free, prior and informed consent before the approval of any project,” said anthropologist Sarah Olsvig of the Greenland Constitutional Commission.

“This independent paragraph [on isolated peoples] is a historic achievement, if it is still in the text when this COP ends. It is there now, today, and we are here to give it the final push and encourage States, to ask States to read, read, read this paragraph in the text,” he concluded.

Not everything is rosy.

Despite the favorable mentions, Indigenous and Afro-descendant leaders around the world fear that it could be altered. This has already happened negatively for them.

In the first version of the Belém drafts, published on November 14th, the text included the risk associated with the exploitation of critical minerals as one of the impacts on the energy transition. This is because the trend is for countries that are still dependent on fossil fuels to shift their economies towards mining, which could harm traditional peoples and territories.

In the November 18th version, mining was still considered a problem: The social and environmental risks associated with expanding supply chains for clean energy technologies, including the risks arising from the unsustainable extraction and processing of critical minerals, and the potential for international cooperation as a means of enabling fair access to opportunities and equitable distribution of the benefits of value aggregation, recalling the principles and recommendations described in the report of the UN Secretary-General’s Panel on Critical Minerals for the Energy Transition.

But in the new version released this Friday, the paragraph changed once again, removing the section on the impacts of mining: “The importance of strengthening international cooperation to mobilize financing, technology and capacity-building support in order to facilitate the implementation of nationally determined just transitions in a socially inclusive and equitable manner.”

In response, civil society has positioned itself against the change. Kuda Manjonjo, Just Transition advisor at Power Shift Africa, an organization that advocates for climate justice and the transition to renewable energy on the African continent, recalled that the inclusion of minerals has been under discussion for over a year in parallel meetings.

“The transformation doesn’t begin when you build grid infrastructure or install renewable energy. It literally begins on the land we’re talking about. It literally begins in the informal mines that are supplying these materials. Not mentioning these minerals keeps an extremely important sector in the shadows of the Just Transition,” he said.

This report was produced by InfoAmazonia, through the Collaborative Socio-environmental Coverage of COP 30. Read the original report here: https://infoamazonia.org/2025/11/21/rascunho-sobre-transicao-energetica-avanca-em-direitos-indigenas-e-afrodescendentes-mas-retira-impacto-de-minerais-criticos/