Africa is at the centre of sustainable transitions

Africa is on the cusp of a new epoch. The continent has long been the source of mineral resources that have proven extremely useful for other economies.

Unfortunately, that model, characterised by raw materials shipped out of the continent and the host countries completely shut out of the value chain meant that only a small fraction of the benefits accrued to them, even as they often had to shell out precious foreign exchange to buy the very goods produced from the raw materials under their feet or over their heads.

With a new energy paradigm in sight and Africa once again in possession of the critical minerals that will power it, leaders on the continent are determined that things will be done very differently.

Antonio Pedro, Acting Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, is convinced that such a path is within reach. “We are in the era of sustainable transitions and Africa is in the centre of these solutions,” he says.

New energy paradigm

The ECA has embraced the possibilities that this new energy paradigm, specifically in transport, holds for Africa. In partnership with other multilateral development agencies, notably the financiers – that is the African Development Bank, African Export-Import Bank, BADEA and African Finance Corporation – he says they have stepped up their efforts to put the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia at the centre of the battery and electric vehicle production value chain.

The DRC’s proven reserves of cobalt and copper place it in very good stead to reap a sizable share of an industry predicted to be worth $7.7 trillion by 2025 and an astounding $46 trillion by 2050.

Pedro says these efforts are in keeping with the conviction that drives the ECA. Indeed, as far back as 2007 he states, the institution has been instrumental in efforts to reform and improve the African extractives sector.

Read full article at African Business

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