CRITICAL MINERALSG20 Johannesburg Endorses Critical Minerals Framework
The Trump administration is trying to diversify critical minerals supply chains and reduce dependence on China, but this goal cannot be achieved without broad and deep cooperation with other countries. The U.S. absence from the 2025 G20 discussions on critical minerals weakens collective efforts to counterbalance China’s influence.
The 2025 G20 Summit was held in Johannesburg on 22–23 November 2025. The United States (US) abstained from participating in the summit due to its diplomatic rift with the host, South Africa. President Xi Jinping also did not attend the summit, and Premier Li Qiang represented China. Russian President Vladimir Putin also did not participate in the summit. However, this did not dampen the spirit of the deliberations, and at the end of the summit, G20 members adopted the declaration by consensus. The declaration includes issues such as climate change, the green energy transition and debt relief for developing nations.
An essential aspect of this declaration involves the establishment of the G20 Critical Minerals Framework. This framework aims at leveraging critical minerals as a catalyst for sustainable development, inclusive economic growth and resilience. The declaration notes:
We recognize that, as the world economy undergoes significant changes, including sustainable transitions, rapid digitization, and industrial innovation, the demand for critical minerals will increase. We note that the benefits associated with essential minerals have not been fully realized, and producer countries, especially in the developing world, are confronted with challenges of underinvestment, limited value addition and beneficiation, a lack of technologies, as well as socio-economic and environmental issues.[1]
The G20 Critical Minerals Framework is a voluntary, non-binding blueprint for global cooperation on critical minerals. It is argued that there is a requirement for sustainable, transparent, stable and resilient critical mineral value chains. The purpose is to ensure that essential mineral resources become drivers of prosperity and sustainable development.
The framework seeks to ensure that mineral-producing countries, particularly in the Global South, derive maximum benefit from their resources by moving beyond raw material exports and into higher-value segments of the supply chain. It recognizes that global economic transformations are sharply increasing the demand for critical minerals. Thus far, many producer countries, especially developing nations, continue to face structural challenges such as underinvestment, limited technological capacity, minimal value addition, and socio-economic and environmental constraints that prevent them from fully capitalizing on their mineral endowments.[2]
G20 countries are keen to expand the exploration of critical minerals, particularly in developing regions. For decades, most mineral-rich states have gained little in terms of business (except China). Many of these states have limited processing capacity, lack control over trade routes and markets, and face persistent geopolitical pressures that add to the problem.
