APRI launched its Green Transition Minerals project by bringing together researchers, academics, policy experts and leading thinkers to help develop the policies and alliances that will enable Africa to add value to the raw materials and create jobs, the priority for the youngest continent in the world.
Executive Director
Visiting Fellow
Visiting Fellow
Green Transition Minerals Fellow
Across Africa, there is a growing ambition to adopt industrial policies aimed at adding value to natural resources. This ambition is reflected in initiatives like the African Mining Vision (AMV) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The AMV, driven by grassroots mobilization in resource-rich countries, aims to use Africa’s mineral resources to spur industrialization and economic transformation through linkages across various sectors. The AfCFTA, the largest free trade area by number of signatories since the World Trade Organization (WTO), seeks to create a large market to facilitate industrialization and value addition to minerals.
As African countries develop strategies centered on green minerals, advanced economies are increasingly focused on securing critical raw materials (CRM) due to the energy and digital transitions. Europe, aiming to decarbonize by 2050 and achieve strategic autonomy, is diversifying its CRM sources beyond China. The EU relies heavily on China for lithium, rare earth elements, and cobalt, and has begun diversifying its supply chain, exemplified by a mining-focused MoU with Namibia in November 2022. Similarly, the U.S. is forming new supply chains through its Mineral Security Partnership (MSP), involving African countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, and Zambia. Additionally, the Ukraine war has heightened the strategic importance of minerals like potassium, essential for fertilizer production, abundant in North Africa.
Amid these geopolitical dynamics, Africa must navigate risks and seize opportunities presented by global demand for its CRM.
APRI launched its Green Transition Minerals project by bringing together researchers, academics, policy experts and leading thinkers to help develop the policies and alliances that will enable Africa to add value to the raw materials and create jobs, the priority for the youngest continent in the world.
The central questions the project seeks to answer are:
Executive Director
Visiting Fellow
Visiting Fellow
Green Transition Minerals Fellow
