The disclosure that African Development Bank (AfDB) is preparing green mineral strategies for economic transformation of Africa is as exciting as it is commendable. The initiative which is in partnership with African Legal Support Facility (ALSF), is also
being supported by the African Unions (AU), United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) organisation. The AfDB’s acting Director of the Africa Natural Resource Management and Investment Center, Dr. Vanessa Ushie, who made the disclosure in a seminar paper on the theme “Leveraging Africa’s green minerals for the energy transition: The role of regional integration and the AfCFTA”. She noted rightly that the initiative on clean energy transition is in line with the commitment under the Paris Climate Agreement. “Africa’s energy transition provides transformational socio-conomic growth opportunities. The continent is richly endowed with a lot of mineral resources, which are essential in growing the economy. With current development makes the transition to low carbon development imperative to grow first and clean up later principle is no longer tenable given Africa’s competitive advantage due to rich endowments in renewable energy and mean mineral resources many African countries have a unique opportunity to benefit from low carbon development and adjust energy transition pathway, which is appropriate in a national context.
We cannot agree less with her submission that Africa needs to promote policies that allow value creation through resource based industrialization, but also to build productive capacities and develop intra African exports and trade by leveraging on the African continental free trade area. It is indeed instructive to note that the integration of Africa into global value chains will not only contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, but also enhance the competitiveness of local, small and medium-sized enterprises and create decent jobs for the teeming population in the continent. We urge member countries of the AU and their non-state actors to accord serious importance to green minerals initiative so as to achieve the target of global energy transition and create opportunities for Africa’s participation in new global value chains.