The Future is Now: NRGI’s 2023 Priorities

Our work at the Natural Resource Governance Institute contributes to fair, prosperous and sustainable societies by advancing citizen and government efforts in resource-rich countries to:

• Drive systemic change to avoid harms from mining and equitably benefit from the responsible scale up of transition minerals necessary to avert global climate catastrophe.
• Build inclusive economies that end dependence on fossil fuels and advance a just energy transition for citizens.
• Manage revenues from natural resources accountably in response to citizen priorities.

Through dramatic upheavals—from global pandemic, through historic market volatility, to the kleptocracy that enables Russian aggression, and the explosion in demand for transition minerals—we have helped our partners navigate uncertainty with timely, relevant and rigorous support.
 
In 2023, we will draw lessons from our work since the launch of our strategy in 2020, including a review our progress on diversity, equity and inclusion. We will deepen our support to the energy transition, and adopt more impact-oriented, politically astute approaches. And reflecting our evolved priorities and identity, we will launch a new website and updated branding.
 
Having undertaken major strategic and organizational transformations, NRGI’s future is now.

Ensuring transition mineral good governance

In 2023, mindful of the historic opportunities for people to benefit from the rising demand in minerals critical to green technologies, and the potential for corruption and harm that often accompanies such booms, we are ramping up our programming on transition mineral governance. We are launching new work in Chile, focused on enhancing good governance and inclusive management of lithium. We are deepening our engagement in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to build an inclusive vision for the management of cobalt in the public interest and more accountable relationships between governments, companies and communities. We are supporting  effective policies on taxation, licensing and value addition, and will engage civil society and policy makers at regional forums like the African Mining Indaba and Alternative Mining Indaba and across several regional institutions in Africa and Latin America. And we will work with partners to implement strategies to prevent supply chain corruption.

Supporting just and sustainable societies

In view of elections both recent (Colombia) and upcoming (Nigeria), we will ensure that our policy analysis informs public debate on how to reduce dependence on fossil fuels in producing countries. The strategies and governance of national oil companies will be a major focus, including in Ghana and Mexico. As countries like Nigeria and Senegal assess the role of gas in their ambitions to improve populations’ energy access we will help citizens and policy makers understand the pros and cons of these gas-to-power approaches, including how they relate to the development of renewable energy. We will invest heavily in building people-centered energy transition dialogues in Colombia, DRC, Ghana, Nigeria and Tunisia, convening inclusive conversations to help partners envision a low-carbon future that meets the needs of all citizens.
 
Internationally, we will build on last year’s partnerships and advocacy to amplify the voice and influence of low- and middle-income resource-producing countries in debates about transition finance and the pace and shape of the decline in production and use of fossil fuels. With an eye on the COP28 climate conference in the United Arab Emirates, we will work with civil society actors and policy makers across the Middle East and North Africa to understand specific regional challenges and advocate for international support to advance the energy transition.
 
We will further research just energy transition partnerships and support international dialogue around how they might accelerate transition in gas-producing countries. NRGI and its partners will also further advocate for stronger international governance standards to foster accountability in the energy transition, including via the much-needed evolution of the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative standard.

Building on lessons from 2022, as a globally connected, locally rooted organization, we will continue to prompt inclusive, evidence-based debate and decision making in resource-rich countries and amplify those priorities on the global stage. In 2023, working in partnership with reformers around the world, we aim to ensure that the future we seek begins now.

Top photo by Estivillml/Envato