Pillar III: Critical Minerals

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G20 Energy Ministerial Meetings

G20 Energy Abundance Ministerial Statement
Pillar III: Critical Minerals

Houston, Texas, published on September 21, 2026
[pdf]

We, Energy Ministers of the G20 who assembled in Houston, Texas, recognize that critical minerals are essential inputs for energy security, processing and manufacturing, digital infrastructure, emerging technologies, and development sustainability. As global demand accelerates, we acknowledge persistent challenges, including, but not limited to, insufficient cooperation mechanisms, data availability, and infrastructure. We therefore support a collaborative, flexible, and voluntary dialogue that respects diverse pathways and national sovereignty over natural resources, to increase local value addition. Our overarching goal is to support resilient, affordable, secure, and diversified critical minerals value chains, quality infrastructure development, and security by strengthening voluntary collaboration on standards, research, information sharing, innovation, investment and value creation, and voluntary technology transfer on mutually agreed terms.

1. Strengthening Information Sharing and Capacity Building

To build a common understanding of value chain risks and opportunities, including transparency issues, where applicable, as well as the need for a resilient value chain, we may strive to leverage voluntary information exchange across government, industry, and research institutions. With support from our domestic research agencies, we may consider voluntarily sharing non-sensitive data, where appropriate, to improve visibility into challenges, bottlenecks, and market dynamics. Collaboration should fully respect the protection of sensitive data, critical infrastructure considerations, cyber security requirements, members’ interests, national sovereignty over their natural resources, and legitimate commercial concerns, in line with applicable laws and regulations.

2. Innovation for Resilient and Efficient Value Chains

Innovation is central to strengthening and diversifying value chains and circularity could play an important complementary role. We may consider coordinating, through appropriate channels, capacity-building programs and sharing education initiatives aimed at training critical minerals specialists. Local value addition promotes more efficient use of mineral resources, reducing waste, and minimizing losses throughout the value chain. We may deepen cooperation in science, technology, and industrial solutions, including, but not limited to, advanced exploration, extraction, processing, and refining techniques, including secondary mineral resources within national jurisdiction, that reduce waste, and existing and emerging approaches in reuse, recycling, and secondary supply, including resource recovery from mining deposits and tailings, among others. We may also explore the use of innovative methods of reducing pressure on natural resource deposits and anticipating stress points in complex value chains. To support these objectives, we may use relevant channels and share research to accommodate different domestic approaches and structures. In doing so, we support utilizing robust safeguards for sensitive data, intellectual property, and cybersecurity, in line with national interests and relevant domestic legislation. We encourage technology and research collaboration. To this end, our collaboration will prioritize capacity building, technical assistance, and voluntary technology transfer on mutually agreed terms, promoting the dissemination of knowledge, the creation of joint research hubs on a voluntary basis, and innovation that delivers shared benefits.

3. Mobilizing Investment and Enhancing International Cooperation for Diversification, Value Addition, and Resilience

Recognizing that capital constraints, operating costs, infrastructure gaps, and labor shortages, among others, may hinder the development of sources of supply, we may consider voluntary partnerships and other mutually agreed forms of collaborative approaches that support diversification, sustainable mining practices, local value addition and resilience through regional processing hubs and capabilities, as appropriate, and capacity building. We may bolster partnerships via expanded cooperation among export credit agencies and multilateral development banks, and collaborative funding of feasibility and prefeasibility studies. We may cooperatively foster supportive investment environments in the critical minerals sector, acknowledging respective national standards, laws, and policies in due diligence. Together, these efforts are designed to promote market access, catalyze private capital flows, and help mineral-endowed countries realize greater value retention from extraction, processing, and manufacturing within their own economies and foster value creation throughout the global critical minerals value chain.

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Source: White House

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This page was last updated September 21, 2026