Green Industrialization in Africa: Adding Value to Critical Minerals through Regional Collaboration

This policy brief from the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET) examines the challenges and opportunities for Africa to move from a raw mineral export model to green industrialization through regional collaboration on critical resource minerals (CRMs).

• Africa possesses roughly 30 percent of global proven critical resource mineral (CRM) supplies, but these are frequently exported in raw form to China, the European Union, and the United States, preventing the continent from realizing the full potential of these resources.
• African nations face significant barriers to establishing mineral processing facilities, including poor infrastructure, limited investment and technology access, inadequate geological knowledge, and a lack of technical capacity.
• While demand for CRMs is projected to rise exponentially due to digital and energy transitions in advanced countries, individual African countries lack the scale to be competitive in mining and downstream processing, making regional collaboration essential for developing green value chains.

APA

Webmaster (2025). Green Industrialization in Africa: Adding Value to Critical Minerals through Regional Collaboration. African Center for Economic Transformation. https://acetforafrica.org/research-and-analysis/insights-ideas/policy-briefs/green-industrialization-in-africa-adding-value-to-critical-minerals-through-regional-collaboration/

Chicago

Webmaster. Green Industrialization in Africa: Adding Value to Critical Minerals through Regional Collaboration. African Center for Economic Transformation, 2025. https://acetforafrica.org/research-and-analysis/insights-ideas/policy-briefs/green-industrialization-in-africa-adding-value-to-critical-minerals-through-regional-collaboration/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Webmaster |title=Green Industrialization in Africa: Adding Value to Critical Minerals through Regional Collaboration |publisher=African Center for Economic Transformation |date=5 December 2025 |url=https://acetforafrica.org/research-and-analysis/insights-ideas/policy-briefs/green-industrialization-in-africa-adding-value-to-critical-minerals-through-regional-collaboration/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{webmaster2025green, author = {Webmaster}, title = {{Green Industrialization in Africa: Adding Value to Critical Minerals through Regional Collaboration}}, institution = {African Center for Economic Transformation}, year = {2025}, month = dec, url = {https://acetforafrica.org/research-and-analysis/insights-ideas/policy-briefs/green-industrialization-in-africa-adding-value-to-critical-minerals-through-regional-collaboration/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }