MDB collaboration framework critical minerals-to-manufacturing value chains

Preamble

1. Purpose and shared ambition

Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) establish this Collaboration Framework to strengthen collective support for developing countries seeking to develop resilient, responsible, and diversified critical minerals-to-manufacturing value chains. The Framework responds to the need for coordinated action across policy and governance, environmental and social performance, enabling infrastructure, regional integration, project preparation, financing, market development, and learning. Its overarching purpose is to support countries translate mineral endowments into sustainable development outcomes while recognizing the foundational role of critical minerals value chains in the low-carbon transition.

This includes more and better jobs, stronger institutions, local economic diversification, domestic value addition, regional trade, the deployment of clean-energy technologies, circular material flows and sustainable industrial development, and competitive participation in global supply chains.

The Framework builds on the commitment made in the Joint MDB Statement on Critical Minerals to Manufacturing Value Chains issued on April 16, 2026. It recognizes that critical mineral value chains are complex systems extending from geological knowledge, exploration and mining to processing, refining, manufacturing, recycling, and enabling services. Their development requires coherent public policy, strong environmental and social performance, fit-for-purpose infrastructure, investable projects, long-term capital, and transparent and resilient markets.

Implementation will be country-driven, development-focused, voluntary, flexible, and additional to existing bilateral or multilateral cooperation. Participating MDBs will collaborate where doing so improves development impact, efficiency, scale, or quality, subject to each MDB’s mandate, policies, approvals and available resources. Collaboration may involve all participating MDBs or smaller groups of interested institutions, depending on regional presence, sector expertise, financing instruments, and the needs of supported countries.¹

2. The Framework

The framework will be implemented in three areas to advance efficiency, impact and sustainability of MDB engagement:

1. Policy and Governance Strengthening. MDBs will support design and implementation of policy, legal, fiscal, trade, and permitting frameworks, with a view to enabling responsible investment and improving predictability for investors. MDBs will promote the MDBs’ environmental and social standards, as well as good international industry practices in governance, transparency, and accountability. MDBs will also support strengthening of public-sector technical and administrative capacities across mineral value chains.
2. Integrated Infrastructure, Corridor-based Approaches, and Value Chain Expansion. MDBs will invest in quality enabling infrastructure—including power, transport, logistics, digital connectivity, and water—that supports critical minerals value chains, fosters innovation, and enables circular economy solutions, and promote projects that maximize local economic benefits, including skilled jobs, small and medium enterprise (SME) participation, inclusion of women and vulnerable groups, and community engagement. MDBs will develop corridors that link mining activities with processing hubs, create market access for other economic sectors such as agriculture, strengthen regional trade, attract private investment, and promote regional integration—contributing to broader economic transformation in supported countries. MDBs will promote value chain expansion and diversification by moving beyond extraction and into processing, refining, manufacturing, and circular value chains to drive economic transformations that deepen domestic value addition.
3. Capital Mobilization, Private Sector Investment, and Market Development. MDBs will mobilize capital at scale and accelerate private sector investments by strengthening project preparation, structuring, and derisking, and by coordinating public and private finance to close viability gaps and deliver bankable, high-standard investments, in mining, processing, manufacturing, and recycling, while strengthening social and environmental risk management, community engagement, and other measures that enhance project legitimacy, investor confidence, and long-term value creation. MDBs will help supported countries enhance market transparency, efficiency, and resilience, including through improved data availability and management.

The framework is composed of four high-level objectives, to be advanced over time through activities and deliverables identified each year. The MDB Working Group on Critical Minerals Value Chains will coordinate implementation under each objective and report annually to the Heads of MDBs Group on progress made.

Objective 1: Alignment and mutual reliance on E&S standards

MDBs will advance practical cooperation on environmental and social requirements applicable to metals and minerals related activities with a focus on mining. The objective is to identify areas of convergence, promote mining-relevant good international industry practice (GIIP), best practices for mid- and downstream processing and manufacturing, and expand mutual reliance where institutional frameworks permit.

Collaboration may include technical exchange on sector guidance; identification of appropriate mining, processing and manufacturing environmental, health, and safety practices; sector-specific requirements and due-diligence and monitoring, good practices and lessons learned; stronger coordination and alignment on sector-specific E&S risks in mine planning, stakeholder engagement, grievance management, community benefits, indigenous people, biodiversity and ecosystem services, water and groundwater management, tailings management, pollution control, labor, occupational and community health and safety, land rights and resettlement, cumulative impacts, and mine closure among others; and use of existing or future mutual-reliance arrangements. For jointly supported operations, MDBs will seek proportionate and efficient approaches that maintain high standards while reducing avoidable duplication for supported countries.

The intended result is stronger and more consistent client environmental and social performance, greater clarity for governments and sponsors, more efficient preparation and monitoring of joint operations, and increased confidence that projects supported by multiple MDBs meet robust requirements and consultation processes, including with local communities, civil society organizations (CSOs) and relevant non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Objective 2: Coordinated support to countries and regions

MDBs will improve coordination of upstream advice, technical assistance, analytics, investment planning, and financing in countries and regions where several institutions are active. Country-level task teams will be established to exchange information, identify complementarities, reduce repeated diagnostics, align sequencing around government priorities, connect policy reform with infrastructure, industrialization and investment, and improve the technical human capacity needed across critical minerals-to-manufacturing value chains.

Particular attention will be given to mineral corridors and associated systems—power, transport, logistics, water, digital connectivity, processing and manufacturing hubs, industrial zones, ports, and trade facilitation—as well as upstream mining investments, including opportunities across the mining project cycle. Recognizing the interdependence between bankable mining projects and the infrastructure and value chains they support, MDBs will identify opportunities for joint preparation, parallel financing, co-financing, guarantees, and coordinated technical assistance where collaboration can improve scale, bankability, or development impact. Regional engagement will address cross-border infrastructure, shared processing potential, market access, regulatory interoperability, customs and trade arrangements, and cooperation with regional bodies.

The intended result is more coherent and sequenced support, integrated infrastructure and value-chain development, fewer gaps and overlaps, and stronger links between mineral production, domestic value addition, regional integration, new and better-quality jobs, industrialization, and broader economic transformation.

Objective 3: Mobilizing private capital

MDBs work together to address the risks and financing constraints that limit investment across exploration, extraction, enabling infrastructure, processing, refining, manufacturing, and recycling. Collaboration focuses on stronger project preparation to provide risk mitigation tools related to coordinated engagement with governments and sponsors, appropriate risk allocation long-term and patient capital, guarantees and insurance, blended or concessional finance where justified, and innovative instruments suited to early-stage, large-scale, or market-constrained investments.

MDBs may develop or participate in investment facilitation platforms, joint mandates, risk-sharing arrangements, offtake-linked financing, first-loss or cost-overrun facilities, early-stage equity vehicles, or other solutions consistent with their mandates. They will also convene producers, original equipment manufacturers, technology providers, infrastructure developers, investors, traders, and downstream users to clarify demand, technical requirements, supply-chain constraints, and bankability conditions.

The intended result is a larger pipeline of well-prepared, high-standard investments; improved access to long-term finance; stronger market signals; more effective use of public and concessional resources; and greater mobilization of private capital for responsible value-chain development.

Objective 4: Joint reporting and learning

MDBs will build a shared evidence base on their collective engagement in critical minerals value chains. An annual stocktake will track agreed high-level information, which will include countries and regions supported, value-chain segments, intervention types, technical assistance, financing, collaboration modalities, co-financed operations, and selected development results at aggregate level.

The MDBs will also foster operational learning. MDBs will exchange lessons on policy reform, ESG application, corridor planning, infrastructure sequencing, local value addition, community engagement (including with CSOs) and benefit-sharing, project preparation, de-risking, financing instruments, and partnerships with public and private actors. Where feasible, participating institutions may undertake joint evaluations of selected operations using common questions or indicators.

The intended result is greater transparency, a clearer understanding of gaps and opportunities, better- targeted collaboration, stronger accountability to MDB leadership and partners, and faster replication of approaches that demonstrate results.

^{1 The Framework does not restrict the ability of governments and the private sector clients to engage with, or see support from, the MDB or combination of MDBs of their choice. Participation in any collaborative arrangement will remain subject to the client’s agreement.}