The Regulation of Critical Minerals in International Treaties: A Human Rights Perspective
Abstract
Growing demand for 'critical minerals' - such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel - and strategic rivalries between large economies have prompted a scramble to secure control of such minerals and the supply chains that organise their processing and distribution.
Public policies have sustained these processes, producing new types of international instruments - from standalone agreements, such as the Japan-US Critical Minerals Agreement; to tailored provisions in trade treaties, such as the 'energy and raw materials' chapter of the Chile-EU trade agreement; all the way to soft instruments that provide a shared framework and roadmap for cooperation, such as the strategic partnerships the EU has negotiated with several mineral-rich states. Through the prism of critical minerals supply chains, these instruments cut across different areas of law and policy: trade, investment, aid, labour rights, the environment and collaboration in research and innovation. Critical minerals have also featured in international dispute settlement processes, including a dispute at the World Trade Organization over Indonesia's restrictions on unprocessed nickel ore exports.
An initial appraisal of these developments highlights the role of law in sustaining and regulating commodity production and trading, while the widespread use of soft instruments points to the limits of legal processes in the context of rapidly evolving economic and geopolitical realities. The developments reflect both continuities and ruptures in international economic law, particularly in relation to the roles of states and markets.
They also illustrate the interrelatedness of climate imperatives, territorial governance, and international investment and trade, and the need to more effectively integrate ecological sustainability and 'just transition' principles into the fabric of the global economic order.
Speaker
Lorenzo Cotula - International Institute for Environment and Development
Bio
Lorenzo Cotula is a Principal Researcher and Head of the Law, Economies and Justice Programme at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), a policy research institute based in the United Kingdom. At IIED, Lorenzo leads research and action on the place of law in strategies to promote fair, sustainable economies. His research cuts across international economic law, land and natural resource governance, human rights, and public accountability approaches. Building on this research work, Lorenzo has been collaborating with multilateral agencies, governments, civil society and research organisations around the world to support policy processes in wide-ranging contexts – from grassroots-level strategies to national law reforms and global talks. Alongside his work at IIED, Lorenzo was a Visiting Professor at Strathclyde Law School (2017-2023) and, prior to that, he held visiting affiliations with Dundee and Warwick universities. Before joining IIED in 2002, he worked as a research consultant to the Legal Office of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Lorenzo holds a degree in law (Sapienza University of Rome), an MSc in Development Studies (London School of Economics), a PhD in law (University of Edinburgh) and a PgCert in Sustainable Business (University of Cambridge).