Indigenous rights and a more equitable society resulting from the clean energy transition is at the heart of a new global research centre based in London.

The Rio Tinto Centre for Future Materials will connect Australian National University with researchers and industry bodies from across the world.

ANU First Nations vice-president Peter Yu said the university was the only Australian institute involved in the global partnership and would advise on several aspects of the centre's work.

He said it would help ensure cultural knowledge was considered and respected in the global renewables transition and First Nations Australians share in economic prosperity arising from its development and production, 60 per cent of which is on First Nations land and sea.

"The sense of urgency around this work is not just about our changing climate or the projections around the volume of minerals needed to replace fossil fuels in our global energy systems," Professor Yu said on Friday.

"It is equally rooted in fostering Indigenous rights and creating a more equitable society for all."

Professor Yu said the London-based centre – created with an investment of $US150 million from Rio Tinto over the next 10 years – would be transformative in helping the world reach net zero by 2050.

"It is exciting to be bringing together expertise from across a range of societal, Indigenous, environmental, scientific, social scientific, and technological perspectives," he said.

In collaboration with Rio Tinto, Imperial College London will lead and act as a hub at the centre, in collaboration with other leading global institutions, including The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, The University of California, Berkeley and The University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

Their goal is to transform how materials are sourced, processed, used and recycled so they are more environmentally, economically and socially sustainable.

ANU researchers and Rio Tinto would ensure First Nations cultural knowledge and perspectives were central to the transition.

Vice-Chancellor Genevieve Bell said the materials the centre would focus on were crucial to our everyday lives.

"It is vital we think about how best to extract and use them," Professor Bell said.

"I am proud ANU is bringing a strong First Nations and social sciences perspective to the centre.

"In being involved at all levels – from production to policy, to public engagement – ANU will ensure the work of the Centre is leading to a future that is sustainable for the environment, and also equitable to all."

Rio Tinto chief innovation officer Dan Walker said that meeting growing demand for materials required for the clean energy transition required urgency and care, while caring for Country was also crucial.

"We're working to increase production of materials needed … while reducing environmental impacts and ensuring Indigenous communities have a meaningful voice in decisions that affect their lands and lives," he said.

"This means reimagining how we operate – from exploration through to rehabilitation."

Federal Resources minister Madeleine King said Rio Tinto's investment would ultimately boost supplies of critical and strategic materials through top-level research and development.

"This investment also means Australian universities like ANU continue to contribute to growing our resources sector, to create good and well-paid jobs for future generations of Australians," she said.

ANU Professor Caitlin Byrt would be at the heart of critical research, determining how to best extract the necessary materials.

"Successful delivery of solutions for equitable and sustainable material supply begins with responsible research and development," she said.

"This partnership enables multidisciplinary teams to collaborate and concentrate on the immense challenge of designing, testing and delivering innovations that will support critical resource security, benefit future generations and remediate our environment."

The centre's first focus was on a major bottleneck to electrification: copper, which is critical to electricity generation, storage and transmission, but in severe low supply.

More copper is needed in the next 10 years than has been mined in the past century.