UN-led panel aims to tackle abuses linked to mining for ‘critical minerals’

The guidelines will only be voluntary and are likely to rely heavily on big companies policing their own supply chains. Photograph: Marko Đurica/Reuters

A UN-led panel of nearly 100 countries is to draw up new guidelines to prevent some of the environmental damage and human rights abuses associated with mining for “critical minerals”.

Mining for some of the key raw materials used in low-carbon technology, such as solar panels and electric vehicles, has been associated with human rights abuses, child labour and violence, as well as grave environmental damage.