Critical minerals: reflections on the G20 Leaders’ Summit
Amid geopolitical tensions, trade tariffs and uncertainties about the future of multilateralism, the leaders’ declaration from the 2025 G20 summit offers steps forward on several key agendas, including critical minerals and mineral-based industrialisation in low- and middle-income countries. The challenge is putting words into action.
Leaders of the G20 pose for the cameras at the G20 summit in South Africa (Photo: Sbu Dlakadla/Statsministerens kontor, CC BY-NC 4.0)
Since the 2008 financial crisis, the G20 has established itself as a central forum for global economic governance. As the first G20 Leaders’ Summit to be hosted on African soil, the South Africa meeting in November 2025 brought high hopes that, this time, the continent's concerns would be central to discussions.
But while there were some positive outcomes, including on critical minerals, there is still work to do.
A first in Africa
Africans have become accustomed to seeing their leaders attend 'Africa summits' in China, India, Japan and Europe in the context of competition over the continent’s mineral riches. As the first G20 summit in Africa – and the fourth consecutive summit in the Majority World – there were symbolic connotations to South Africa hosting this year and putting critical minerals on the agenda.
Hopes were high in the preparatory meetings in Johannesburg – from the Think20 (T20) event to the G20 Social Summit and the 99% People’s Summit for Global Economic Justice.
There were open calls to stop considering Africa as a subject of global decision making and source of raw materials for prosperity elsewhere, and start seeing it instead as a key actor that shapes decisions about its own and the world’s collective future.
Solidarity, equality and sustainability
Responding to these concerns, the G20 agenda highlighted a renewed commitment to multilateralism while also promoting a more equitable international order.
The African philosophy of Ubuntu (I am because we are) underpinned the key themes of ‘solidarity, equality and sustainability’ chosen by the South African presidency.
The emphasis on solidarity challenged political instincts to put individual country interests first, while the focus on equality and sustainability signalled a resolve to tackle some of the world’s most pressing challenges.
Critical minerals: a policy priority
Within this wider agenda, the presidency made critical minerals – an issue that resonates with many mineral-rich low- and middle-income countries, particularly in Africa – a top priority.
In the context of a global rush for minerals (PDF) that are essential both to large economies’ advanced technology and energy transition industries and to Africa's own green energy transition and industrial development, mineral-rich low- and middle-income countries are at a pivotal moment.
As outlined in the Africa Mining Vision and Africa’s Green Mineral Strategy (AGMS), these countries want to break longstanding trade and investment patterns that have locked them into exporting raw materials exposed to major price volatility and shocks. Instead, they want to harness their mineral wealth for domestic industrialisation, creating jobs, diversifying their economies and increasing their resilience.
From vision to reality
Exploring options for making this vision a reality, participants at the T20 event and the G20 Social Summit emphasised the need for effective state action at national and regional levels. This includes regional coordination among producer countries, both to enhance collective negotiating power in relations with China, the European Union (EU) and the United States (US), and to create the economies of scale needed to make local processing financially viable.
Participants also discussed supporting development of ‘investable’ projects and using sovereign wealth funds to mobilise patient capital for long-term economic transformation.
Mindful of the environmental degradation and impoverished communities left behind by many mining projects, participants highlighted the need to protect rights, tackle social and environmental harms and ensure that ‘beneficiation’ reaches the communities most affected.
The leaders’ declaration refers to securing sustainable and resilient critical minerals supply chains while also promoting ‘local beneficiation at source’, emphasising that critical minerals should be a ‘catalyst for value-addition and broad-based development, rather than just raw material exports’.
The declaration also mentions 'local community participation’ and ‘robust, non-discriminatory and relevant standards on economic, social and environmental aspects’. A G20 Critical Minerals Framework, referenced in the leaders’ declaration, was yet to be released at the time of writing.
A plenary session at the G20 Leaders' Summit (Photo: Lauren Hurley/No 10 Downing Street, CC BY 4.0)
Multilateralism vs transactionalism
That the summit delivered a consensus declaration is a success for multilateralism and South Africa’s presidency, considering the difficult circumstances. The US refused to attend the summit and Argentina followed suit. And while the United Kingdom (UK), the EU and other delegations expressed support for South Africa’s work, issues such as critical minerals are central to ongoing geopolitical tensions and thus hard to address in a multilateral setting.
The outcome signals the continued relevance of multilateralism, albeit outside the more inclusive setting of the United Nations. Unlike bilateral, transactional critical mineral diplomacy, the G20 summit offered a space for setting key parameters from a global governance perspective.
That said, the declaration falls short of supporting regional integration and collaboration between producer countries.
A more explicit reference to the AGMS – along the lines of the support expressed for the African Continental Free Trade Area to strengthen food security – would have reinforced continent-wide efforts to advance the local beneficiation aims set out in the declaration.
And beyond the multilateral emphasis, leaders concluded bilateral deals too, with South Africa and the EU unveiling a new Clean Trade and Investment Partnership to cooperate across renewables, electricity, green hydrogen, critical minerals and other ‘clean’ sectors.
What next?
As with all summits, outcomes will depend on concrete actions to translate words into practice. There are questions about space for effective follow-through.
For example, while the leaders’ declaration provides political pointers on local value addition, legally binding international economic rules constrain options for mineral-rich countries to advance industrial strategies. There is currently no obvious process for instigating a multilateral conversation to rethink such rules.
In terms of momentum, the G20 presidency now passes to the US, which has a very different political agenda from South Africa’s, so priorities may change.
But when it rotates to the UK in 2027, the UK presidency can build bridges with the outcomes of the South Africa summit and take forward the aspirations that many people in Africa have placed in this year’s process.
