The clean energy transition involves a complex web of ethical dilemmas for individuals; research institutions; associations; corporations; government institutions; international platforms; and intergenerational considerations. Based on existing principles and protocols on human rights, the environment and transparency and accountability in government, guidelines for addressing some of these ethical dilemmas are clearer than others. In addition, for many of these dilemmas, ethical approaches to policymaking involve balancing tradeoffs between competing interests. Given the diversity of groups likely to be impacted by these policy decisions and the intergenerational implications, it is rarely practical to involve all of the interested parties in decision making. This raises fundamental questions about how agency is defined and exercised during policymaking at different levels. Key questions include:  

• Who participates in policy making processes and on whose behalf? 
• How are competing interests weighed and balanced against each other and who decides? 
• Who determines what is ethical and based on whose perspectives? 

By 2040, ballooning global demand for key energy minerals – a projected increase of 500 percent for some minerals – will require significant expansion of current mining operations around the world. Historically, in countries with weak transparency and accountability systems, instead of providing inclusive socio-economic dividends for people, natural resource wealth has fuelled corruption, inequity and conflict, and been diverted to entrench predatory regimes. While expectations for significant improvements in public service delivery and domestic employment opportunities are often high, these benefits rarely materialize. Moreover, natural resource industries often have unique, disproportionately negative economic, health, and safety impacts for women. Growing demand for key energy materials risks increasing incentives for more exploitative behavior by predatory actors and repeating, perhaps expanding corrosive patterns of the past. 

The National Democratic Institute (NDI) supports the development of effective, public-sector institutions and governance processes that function consistent with core democratic values of transparency, responsiveness, inclusion, integrity, and accountability.¹ Ethical questions related to NDI’s work and the clean energy transition include the following: 

• In the countries that hold significant reserves of the minerals necessary for the clean energy era, how can international demand for these resources avoid repeating the destructive patterns of the past?  
• What principles, practices and processes can be used to ensure that mineral-rich countries are able to exploit and manage this natural resource wealth in ways that ensure the maximum benefits for the majority of the population while minimizing associated risks? 

Discussions during the workshop:

• Crystallized the critical role that “agents” in various institutions, at different levels, play in weighing competing interests; 
• Reinforced how natural resource exploitation can compromise the very institutions and “agents” that are typically responsible for ensuring ethical management of mineral wealth; and 
• Re-emphasized the importance of independent technical expertise in helping policymakers weigh the costs and benefits of different options. 

In most countries, elected representatives at national and subnational levels –  one category of agents, among many – have constitutional mandates to: review and improve laws surrounding the management and exploitation of natural resources; monitor implementation of existing policies; and represent the interests of constituents in affected communities. Inclusive participation, transparency and accountability play important roles in helping elected officials fulfill these roles, while making it possible for citizens to hold their public officials accountable for their management of natural resources. When elected officials are responsive, accountable and effective in meeting the needs of their people, national mineral wealth is more likely to increase prosperity and stability for all.  

NDI is embarking on a new initiative to identify lessons learned and recommendations for strengthening legislators' role in ensuring that mineral wealth is more likely to generate beneficial outcomes for all. This initiative will build on: 

• Historic NDI work to strengthen transparency and accountability in the management of natural resources that led to the adoption of new transparency provisions in Niger’s public finance laws, and supported more than 700 local government, civil society and political party representatives in Colombia’s department of Chocó as they reached agreement on 28 proposed reforms to the mining code and shared their proposals with national legislators, mining officials, and civil society representatives; 
• The Institute’s work at international and country- specific levels to advance norms around public debt transparency; and to strengthen legislative and civil society oversight and monitoring of these loans (which are often backed by mineral wealth or associated with efforts to exploit these resources) which has led to reforms in Kenya, Zambia and greater public attention to these issues such countries as Malawi; and 
• NDI’s work on effective and innovative approaches for participatory policymaking through feedback loops, lessons learned from the recent experiences with deliberative democracy in such countries as Belgium and Ireland.