CEA: “Africa must develop its mineral resources for sustainable development and energy transition” according to Antonio Pedro, Head of CEA | www.l-integration.com – INTEGRATION

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Africa must exploit its vast mineral reserves to spur economic transformation and accelerate sustainable development but above all solve its energy shortage, urged the Acting Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, Antonio Pedro, stressing that the continent is well placed to spearhead the clean energy transition.

“The top priority for Africa is to achieve inclusive and sustainable economic transformation. This transformation would bring tangible effects on job creation and poverty eradication and would tackle the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.Mr. Pedro said in a video address at the August 17 opening of the 19^th ordinary session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN)in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The ministerial meeting of the 19^th AMCEN Ordinary Session was held under the theme, “Seizing Opportunities and Strengthening Collaboration to Address Africa’s Environmental Challenges”. Mr. Pedro reiterated that Africa is in the spotlight because of its rich mineral reserves which it must exploit to meet its development challenges.

“Africa therefore needs to fundamentally rethink how it addresses its broad development challenges if it is to achieve the goals of Agenda 2063, the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and various national development goals, while positioning itself at the center of the global clean energy transition agenda”Mr. Pedro said.

Home to up to a third of the world’s mineral reserves, Africa currently produces more than half of the metals such as platinum, manganese, cobalt and others. With a global demand for wind power, electric vehicles and other products capable of generating electricity and transporting people and goods without emitting CO²demand for lithium, cobalt, graphite, nickel and copper is expected to increase dramatically by 2040.

Pedro said the continent is uniquely placed to translate its endowments of minerals and metals into tools for industrialization, economic transformation, job creation and electrification, but cautioned that political will is needed. to carry out the Africa Project “Mining Extraction”.

ECA is working closely with member States and other stakeholders to help countries maximize the benefits of the boom in the “green” minerals sector. For example, ECA and its partners are currently supporting the construction of a regional value chain for Batteries and Electric Vehicles in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia.

“Africa has the opportunity to shape a compelling energy transition agenda, grounded in its industrialization priorities, while positioning itself at the center of the global decarbonization agenda by harnessing its abundant clean energy resources to process its critical minerals for regional and global electric battery value chains”, he said.

A green energy transition is essential for Africa, a region that has 80% of the 733 million people in the world without access to electricity and 39% of the 2.4 billion people without access to clean cooking.

Emphasizing the huge opportunity for Africa to harness carbon markets to stimulate investments to benefit local communities, promote energy transition and achieve national commitments on climate change and sustainable development, Mr. Pedro lamented the continent’s low participation in carbon markets. Africa has not exploited the full potential of its resources, especially the largest carbon sinks in the Congo Basin, including peatlands and rainforest.

This is due to the lack of effective carbon market instruments, unfair and unreasonable carbon prices, limited or absent legal and regulatory frameworks, and limited technical capacity, Pedro said.

ECA assisted the 16 member countries of the Congo Basin Climate Commission (CBCC) develop a regional carbon registry that allows rapid tracking of relevant credits as well as the projects from which the credits were generated. (Source : CEA)