At the recent COP30 climate summit, delegates adopted a mechanism for a just energy transition but excluded critical minerals from the final text. A proposal to include language on these minerals, crucial for renewable energy technologies, was dropped after China and Russia opposed it. Critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel are essential for electric vehicles but their mining has significant environmental and social impacts. This exclusion marks a continuation of past debates, as critical minerals were also omitted from the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals. Experts suggest that the opposition from China and Russia stems from concerns over the impact on their industries, particularly since China dominates the processing of these minerals.