Grounding critical minerals in values-centred approaches for just sustainability transitions

Abstract Growing demand for critical minerals to accelerate a global energy transition presents new challenges and opportunities for responsible mine exploration and mine development. Social innovations have not kept pace with investment in mineral development, putting the wellbeing and rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities at risk. Historical and ongoing injustices mean that without pro-active attention to these issues, critical mineral development may cause social and environmental harm and exacerbate existing inequalities. The 2022 Values Assessment conducted by the Intergovernmental Panel of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES-VA) shows that transitions towards just and sustainable futures depend on recognising and embedding diverse values into decision-making processes across all domains, including mining. Values-centred approaches seek to identify diverse and under-represented values and activate values-centred leverage points to overcome barriers, shift power, and explore alternative pathways towards justice and sustainability. In this paper, we argue that the governance of critical mineral development can learn from values-centred approaches to inform responsible and inclusive mining and exploration. We outline how values-centred approaches might help to address current shortfalls in mineral resource governance, and identify promising examples of activating values-centred leverage-points drawing from global examples. We critically advance values-centred approaches by considering power, knowledge, and capabilities, while also acknowledging the need for pragmatism in improving mineral resource governance. We identify potential change mechanisms for integrating values into policy and practice and call for more attention to plural values in the exploration and development of critical minerals for just transitions.