Yaoundé, 27 March 2026 (ECA) – As the global transition to clean energy accelerates, Africa is emerging as a pivotal player in the evolving landscape of decarbonization. While the continent is endowed with vast reserves of critical minerals, it continues to face structural challenges in shifting away from a model centered on raw material exports towards one driven by domestic value addition and industrial transformation.
It is within this context that policymakers, leading experts and international institutions, convening in Yaoundé on the margins of the 14th World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference, issued a compelling call to action: to harness Africa’s critical minerals as a strategic lever for green industrialization, inclusive growth and an equitable energy transition.
Co-organized by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the Forum on Trade, Environment and the SDGs (TESS), the high-level dialogue highlighted the continent’s strategic positioning in the reconfiguration of global clean energy value chains. With close to 40 per cent of the world’s reserves of essential minerals (including cobalt, lithium, graphite and manganese) Africa holds a clear comparative advantage. Yet, it continues to capture only a marginal share of the value generated across these supply chains.
“The imperative is no longer merely to extract, but to transform,” underscored Adama Ekberg Coulibaly, representing the Director of the ECA Subregional Office for Central Africa. “This transformation presents a historic opportunity to anchor Africa’s green industrialization within an inclusive and sustainable development trajectory. It calls for a coherent and integrated approach, grounded in regional cooperation, forward-looking trade policies and responsible investment frameworks, to ensure that the continent’s natural wealth delivers tangible benefits for its people,” he added. At the heart of this ambition lies a critical question: how can Africa effectively translate its resource endowment into sustained economic growth, quality employment and shared prosperity?
Notwithstanding this potential, significant structural constraints persist. African economies remain highly vulnerable to global price volatility, reflecting their continued reliance on primary commodity exports. This challenge is further compounded by the predominance of artisanal mining, increasingly stringent environmental, social and governance requirements, and a limited pipeline of well-structured, investment-ready projects capable of attracting large-scale financing. “These structural bottlenecks continue to constrain Africa’s industrial upgrading and value capture,” noted Henri Kouam, founder of the Cameroon Economic Policy Institute.
In response, the African Union Commission is calling for a decisive shift in scale and ambition, in alignment with Agenda 2063 and the Africa Mining Vision. Within this framework, the African Continental Free Trade Area is seen as a critical enabler for the development of integrated regional value chains that can retain a greater share of value within the continent. “This will require sustained investments in infrastructure, the strengthening of industrial and technological capabilities, and a more strategic alignment with evolving global market dynamics,” stated Jean-Bertrand Azapmo.
Echoing this perspective, ECA emphasized that strengthening productive capacities will be central to driving this transformation. The battery and electric vehicle value chain initiative between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia was highlighted as a flagship example of emerging regional cooperation. “It signals a new trajectory—one in which African countries are actively positioning themselves to capture higher-value segments of the green economy,” explained Koffi Elitcha, Economist at the ECA Subregional Office for Central Africa. He further underscored the need to develop a new generation of Special Economic Zones that integrate small and medium-sized enterprises, embed ESG standards, and foster skills development alongside research and innovation.
Beyond sectoral initiatives, discussions converged on a critical cross-cutting imperative: enhanced coordination. This entails not only greater policy harmonization across African countries, but also deeper and more strategic engagement with the private sector. In this regard, Jodie Keane of ODI Global stressed the importance of developing bankable, market-aligned projects capable of attracting sustained investment flows, particularly from African private sector actors.
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