According to Claver Gatete, the Executive Secretary of United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the continent can leverage its mineral wealth to drive industrialization, promote regional value chains, and drive a just energy transition that leaves no one behind.

“The continent must unite and strategically harness its vast reserves of essential green minerals, avoid the exploitative patterns of the past, and drive its own industrial transformation.”

Gatete said, quoted in a UNECA statement regarding the African Climate Summit that concluded Friday in Addis Ababa. The fact that Africa possesses more than 30% of the minerals essential for clean energy technologies, such as cobalt, lithium, and copper, places it "at the center of the global energy transition."

But "Without a coordinated diplomatic strategy, Africa will remain a mere supplier of raw materials for the global energy transition, missing out on a historic opportunity for industrialization.”, warned the executive secretary of UNECA.

Speaking at a session themed 'Towards an African Position on Critical Green Minerals Diplomacy' during the African Climate Summit in Addis Ababa, Gatete argued that the continent should not just be a supplier of raw materials, but rather "seize the moment to build industries, create jobs and promote inclusive growth."

Without a coordinated African position, the risk is real, because extractive models will persist, environmental degradation will worsen, and inequalities in the distribution of value will increase.

The talks during the summit, Gatete stressed, were not just about minerals, but about “shape a narrative in which Africa is empowered, not exploited; and in which it is an architect, not a bystander, of the global green transition".

Picture: © 2025 Nic Bothma