The United Nations Association of New York presents
The UN’s Role and Influence Promoting
Responsible and Efficient Extraction of Critical Minerals
with
María José Baptista
Interagency and Intergovernmental Affairs
UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme), New York Office
Preceded by
UNA-NYC Annual Meeting 2025
Monday, May 19, 2025
6:00 - 6:30 p.m. | Registration and UNA-NYC Annual Meeting
6:30 - 7:30 p.m. | Program with Q+A
7:30 - 8:00 p.m. | Reception
Permanent Mission of Ireland to the United Nations
1 Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza
885 Second Avenue, 21st Floor (bet. 47 & 48 Streets)
New York, NY 10017
ADMISSION
UNA Members: FREE
UNA Student Members: FREE
Non-Members: $15
Registration for this event coming soon
NOTE: Anyone wishing to attend may send a request to info@unanyc.org and will be put on a wait list, first-come first-served.
Please join us at our 2025 Annual Meeting, when UNA-NYC will celebrate our accomplishments over the past year, and our guest speaker will be UNEP lawyer María José Baptista, who will address the question of what influence the UN has had in the responsible and efficient extraction of critical minerals.
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While it doesn't directly manage or oversee mining operations, the United Nations has played a significant role involving extraction of critical minerals, primarily through advocacy, frameworks, and international cooperation. Rather than direct enforcement, its influence stems from convening stakeholders, setting voluntary standards, and raising awareness about environmental, social, and economic challenges tied to mineral extraction for the energy transition. Some key ways the UN has contributed:
UN Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals (2024): Launched by Secretary-General António Guterres in April 2024, this panel brought together governments, organizations, industry, and civil society to develop voluntary principles for just and sustainable mineral transitions.
UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Leadership: UNEP has been a vocal advocate for responsible mining, highlighting the need to balance the clean energy transition with environmental and social safeguards. At forums like the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-6, February 2024), UNEP emphasized sustainable extraction to prevent biodiversity loss, pollution, and water stress, particularly in arid regions where 50% of copper and lithium production occurs.
Frameworks and Partnerships: The UN supports initiatives like the UN Framework on Just Transitions for Critical Energy Transition Minerals, developed with UNEP, UNDP, UNIDO, and others, to align mining practices with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It promotes policies that minimize environmental footprints and maximize benefits for resource-rich developing countries. The UN also collaborates with groups like the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF) and the World Bank to provide technical assistance and strengthen governance.
Advocacy for Circularity and Justice: The UN pushes for reduced mineral demand through material efficiency, substitution, and recycling, noting that scaling up recycling could cut new mining needs by 25–40% by 2050. It stresses equitable wealth distribution, warning against repeating colonial exploitation patterns where developing nations are left with raw material exports and little value-added industry.
Addressing Human Rights and Environmental Risks: The UN has raised concerns about human rights abuses, like child labor in cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and environmental damage such as water depletion from lithium extraction in Chile. It promotes due diligence, transparency, and accountability across supply chains, leveraging tools like blockchain and digital product passports to trace mineral origins and ensure ethical sourcing.
Limitations: The UN’s role is largely advisory, relying on voluntary adoption of its principles. It lacks binding authority to enforce standards, and critics argue its frameworks risk being diluted by competing national interests or industry pushback. Geopolitical tensions, especially between major players like China and Western nations, complicate global coordination.
Please join us for this evening’s discussion on the important role the UN has played in shaping norms and encouraging multilateral action to make critical mineral extraction more responsible and efficient, through fostering dialogue and setting aspirational benchmarks for tangible outcomes in implementing abiding UN principles.
Guest Presenter
María José Baptista
María José Baptista is a Costa Rican lawyer working for the New York Office of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to bring the environmental perspective into interagency and intergovernmental processes in UN Headquarters. As part of this role, she is supporting the Secretary General’s Working Group on Transforming the Extractive Industries for Sustainable Development. She is also the coordinator of UNEP’s Extractives Hub.
From 2011 to 2021 she worked for the UNEP-hosted Secretariat of the International Resource Panel, where she led the development of scientific publications on sustainable land management, food systems, the economic potential of resource efficiency, the interlinkages between resource efficiency and climate change, and the flagship IRP report ‘Global Resources Outlook’, among others.
Prior to joining UNEP, María José worked at the Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations Development Programme on the Economic Valuation of Biodiversity in the region. She also served as an attorney for the Legal Department of the Inter-America Development Bank in Washington DC and worked with the World Resources Forum on topics related to the Sustainable Management of Natural Resources.
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