At World Bank meetings, a push for UN-led ‘just transition’ framework

As the World Bank and International Monetary Fund convene this week for their annual meetings, campaigners are urging multilateral development banks to back a new global framework to better coordinate the just transition. The framework, called the Belém Action Mechanism for the Just Transition, or BAM, would be housed under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC, and aims to require countries to follow specific standards, financing rules, and technical guidelines. “[BAM] provides a coordination entity to better steer just transition efforts, an action and support function offering a single point of entry for countries and communities to access resources, and a knowledge-sharing space,” said Anabella Rosemberg, senior adviser on the just transition at the Climate Action Network, during a press briefing on Monday. “BAM is critical because it moves the conversation from dialogue to collective implementation, ensuring that climate transition benefits all, especially those currently lacking alternative pathways.” Crucially, it would not be a voluntary initiative led by a handful of nations or private sector actors. “It’s a multilateral approach,” Rosemberg said. Advocates are hoping that the plan, which was first discussed in June at the Bonn climate talks, will benefit from the enforcement powers of multilateral development banks, or MDBs. Rosemberg told Devex that engaging with MDBs is critical because they are “prominent actors” when it comes to channeling climate finance, and they often have their own just transition principles that need to be included in this coordinated effort. Rosemberg told Devex that they have colleagues on the ground in Washington, D.C., this week to meet with “various MDBs and stakeholders to discuss their views on the Just Transition and the BAM ahead of COP.” It’s unclear how interested MDBs are, however. This year, as during the Spring Meetings in April, climate issues are playing a subdued role. The words “just transition” are featured in the titles of just two sessions this week, and both are being run by civil society. The word “climate” can be found in just three session titles. So far, Rosemberg told Devex that the World Bank has not been very active in just transition negotiations, but she’s hoping that changes. We are likely to hear many advocates calling for the World Bank and IMF to do more this week — leading economists from development organizations will be launching a three-point strategy later this week for how the World Bank, IMF, and other key institutions must overhaul their lending models to drive the green transformation in developing and emerging economies. “Rather than pulling back in the face of mounting challenges, we must double down on climate action and the reforms needed to finance it,” said Kevin Gallagher, director of the Boston University Global Development Policy Center. “The climate crisis isn’t going away, and neither are countries’ development aspirations.” The World Bank did not answer a query about how central BAM would be at the meetings by the time of publication. Mining’s messy reality A central component of the BAM is regulating critical minerals mining, which is increasingly coming under scrutiny for its harmful impacts on biodiversity and labor rights, as well as contributions to land degradation, water use, pollution, and carbon emissions from extraction. These minerals — nickel, lithium, and cobalt, among others — are crucial for the renewable energy transition, but they are also finite and harmful. One 2024 study found that critical minerals extraction was responsible for 10% of greenhouse gas emissions in 2018 and is expected to rise. That same study found that the European Union’s energy goals will consume up to 73 million cubic meters of water in water-scarce areas and expose mineral-rich countries to modern slavery risks. “The rush to mine these minerals intensifies long-standing and unresolved issues within the mining industry,” said Angela Asuncion of the Asia Pacific Transition Mineral Accountability Working Group. “Since 2010, there have been over 600 documented cases of human rights abuses related to transition minerals,” she added, noting that nearly 70% of these minerals lie on Indigenous lands. Asuncion said that in the Philippines — one of the world’s largest nickel producers and among the most climate-vulnerable countries globally — Indigenous peoples have lost around 20% of their land to mining projects, even as the sector contributes less than 1% to the country’s gross domestic product. “We must ask ourselves, who will the energy transition benefit? And who holds the justice in the just energy transition?” Asuncion said. “Parties must ensure that human rights, environmental protection, and equity are upheld at every stage of the transition mineral supply chain, so that the path to decarbonization becomes a path to dignity, justice, and shared prosperity for all.” What BAM can do Civil society leaders say BAM would institutionalize just transition governance within the UNFCCC process rather than relying on voluntary pledges. It would include a coordination entity composed of governments, Indigenous peoples, trade unions, communities, women and gender groups, and other civil society organizations. These minerals, while difficult to extract, are pivotal for much of the energy economy. Advocates argue that MDBs could play a pivotal role in bridging the massive financing and capacity gap that keeps low- and middle-income countries locked into raw material exports. Rosemberg said BAM offers “a concrete space for the World Bank and other MDBs to align their operations with the principles that will come out from COP on the just transition.” Rather than leading, she said, banks could act as “enablers — helping countries access capital and implement industrial strategies that diversify economies, protect communities, and create local value.” Building momentum toward COP30 At the 28th U.N. Climate Change Conference, or COP28, in 2023, countries agreed to triple renewable energy capacity and double energy efficiency by 2030 — targets that depend on how the world governs the minerals that underpin this transition. Some countries have been working toward this. “The African Union Green Mineral Strategy offers a roadmap for sustainable industrialization, access to energy and economic development,” said Ibrahima Aidara, deputy Africa director for the Natural Resource Governance Institute. “Countries like South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia are developing national critical mineral strategies aligned with climate and energy goals.” The African Group of Negotiators, G77 and China, and other blocs are now developing common positions to push equitable mineral governance at COP30 in Belém, Brazil — the first COP expected to formally address what advocates call “the material dimensions of the Paris Agreement.” The African Group of Negotiators has the African Green Minerals Strategy, while G77 and China have issued statements calling for value chains that support developing country economies. The World Bank and IMF meetings this week are a chance for advocates to push MDBs to align their portfolios with these ideas before COP30, Rosemberg said. “We do think that these multilateral development banks should be building much more strongly on the principles that will come out from COP on just transition,” she said. “They have to organize their work, also having the UNFCCC climate imperatives in mind, as well as stronger rights language.” For civil society groups, that means the World Bank, African Development Bank, and others must accept a supporting role — financing and scaling equitable industrial strategies rather than dictating them.