Energy Transition Africa

African engineer wearing safety gear assembling battery components in a renewable energy training workshop.

Critical Minerals, Critical Skills: Can Africa Build the Workforce for Its Energy Future?

As a continent, we sit on the world’s largest reserves of cobalt, manganese, platinum, lithium and graphite. the very minerals that make electric vehicles, wind turbines, solar batteries and green…

Vincent Egoro November 7, 2025critical minerals, energy workforce, just transition Africa, skills for energy transition, Vincent Egoro, youth employment

Two African mining engineers in safety helmets and vests inspect conveyor systems at a mineral processing facility, symbolising the continent’s shift from extraction to industrialisation.

Critical Minerals

From Extraction to Industrialisation: Africa’s Critical Minerals Value Chain

Africa’s critical minerals are once again in the global spotlight, but not only for what is being mined, but also for what is not being made. As the clean-energy transition…

Energy Transition Africa Editorial Desk October 29, 2025Africa, beneficiation, critical minerals, energy transition, industrialisation, mining governance, regional integration

A young African boy carrying a heavy sack of minerals near a mining site, symbolising the human and ethical costs of the global clean energy transition.

Critical Minerals

Responsible Minerals Finance: Bridging the Gap Between Theory and African Practice

Africa’s critical minerals are once again in the global spotlight, this time not for what’s being dug up, but for how it’s being financed. Last week, the United Nations Environment…

Energy Transition Africa Editorial Desk October 13, 2025AfDB, Africa energy transition, critical minerals, governance, green finance, just transition, responsible mining, UNEP report

African child carrying sack of ore in foreground, with wind turbines and solar panels in background under sunrise.

Critical Minerals

Finance or Folly? How Climate Capital Is Fueling Mining Abuses in Africa

In recent climate weeks, the buzzwords were everywhere: “green capital,” “just transition,” “unlocking climate finance.” On panels, participants nodded in agreement about the trillions needed to accelerate the energy transition.…

Vincent Egoro October 3, 2025Africa energy transition, climate finance mining Africa, critical minerals, just transition, mining governance, resource justice

Stacked solar panels in wooden crates on Tangier dockside, crane lifting pallet toward city rooftops at golden hour, symbolising Africa Chinese solar panel imports and dependency.

Energy Transition

Africa’s Solar Surge: Boom or Dependency?

On a hazy morning in Algiers, a flat-bed truck crawls through traffic stacked high with shrink-wrapped photovoltaic panels. It is an increasingly common sight from North Africa’s coast to the…

Energy Transition Africa Editorial Desk August 25, 2025Africa solar imports, Chinese solar panels Africa, climate finance, critical minerals, energy transition, local manufacturing solar Africa, renewable energy transition Africa, rooftop solar Africa, solar dependency Africa

African miner overlooks a Southern African open-pit mine at sunset.

Critical Minerals

Southern Africa: The Critical Minerals Anchor of the Global Energy Transition

When the World Economic Forum released its recent analysis on the role of Southern Africa in the global energy transition, one figure stood out: countries like Zambia, Namibia, and Zimbabwe…

Vincent Egoro August 11, 2025Africa industrialisation, community benefits, critical minerals, green hydrogen, just energy transition, mining policy, Namibia lithium, platinum, renewable energy transition, resource governance, SADC cooperation, Southern Africa, sustainable development, value addition, Zambia cobalt, Zimbabwe lithium

African miner beside a cobalt pit with an industrial plant on the horizon, representing Africa’s move from raw exports to mineral beneficiation.

Critical Minerals

Beyond Raw Minerals: Can Africa Benefit from Its Critical Mineral Wealth?

In Kolwezi, in the heart of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the earth gives way to cobalt-rich soil. Every morning, hundreds of artisanal miners, many without helmets or boots,…

Energy Transition Africa Editorial Desk July 30, 2025Africa, artisanal mining, cobalt, critical minerals, DRC, Ghana, green transition, lithium, resource nationalism, Sierra Leone, value addition

African coal town residents contrast with foreign consultants managing climate funds

Community Impact Energy Transition

Who Truly Benefits from Just Transitions in Africa? The Rising Tide of Elite Extraction

In recent years, Africa has been hailed as a leader in designing just transitions, energy shifts that protect both the planet and people. Among the most ambitious is the Just…

Energy Transition Africa Editorial Desk July 16, 2025Africa, climate finance, coal transition, community inclusion, critical minerals, energy justice, JETP, just transition

African officials stand near a mine site enforcing mineral export bans

Critical Minerals

Africa’s Resource Revolution: How Raw Minerals Are Becoming Gold Mines for Local Value

Africa is in the midst of a quiet revolution. One that sees nations taking a firmer hold over the minerals beneath their feet. From Mali’s dramatic seizure of Barrick’s gold…

Energy Transition Africa Editorial Desk July 14, 2025Africa, critical minerals, economic sovereignty, just transition, mineral exports, resource nationalism, value addition

African women sitting near a railway, observing a mineral freight train passing through their village.

Community Impact Critical Minerals

Beyond the Tracks: What Africa’s Mining Corridors Really Mean for the Communities They Bypass

"The trains pass, but we are still in the dark." That was the quiet but piercing remark of Mariam, a farmer in northern Zambia, whose family was relocated to make…

Energy Transition Africa Editorial Desk July 4, 2025Africa infrastructure, community voices, critical minerals, displacement, energy transition, just transition, land rights, mining corridors