Trading Africa's Green Minerals at a Crossroads: A Call for Regional Coordination

The document highlights Africa's strategic position as the holder of over 30% of the world's critical mineral reserves, essential for the global transition to renewable energy. It warns that without regional coordination, African nations risk remaining locked into raw materials extraction while major economies like the US, EU, and China compete for access. The authors advocate for the implementation of the Africa Green Minerals Strategy (AGMS) through a coordinated diplomatic framework and a continental task force to enhance negotiation power and promote regional value chains.

• Africa possesses more than 30% of the global known reserves of critical minerals—including copper, cobalt, nickel, lithium, rare earth elements, and platinum group metals—which are vital for electric vehicles, green hydrogen, and renewable energy systems.
• Major global powers are employing diverse diplomatic and economic strategies to secure mineral access: the US uses MoUs and the Minerals Security Partnership Forum; the EU utilizes the Global Gateway Initiative and Clean Trade and Investment Partnerships; and China focuses on off-take agreements and infrastructure-for-resources deals.
• The Africa Green Minerals Strategy (AGMS), adopted in February 2025, provides a blueprint for sustainable development and value addition, but its implementation is currently hindered by a lack of a consolidated platform for collective engagement, leading to fragmented negotiations.
• To avoid underpricing and maximize development, Africa should establish a regional coordination mechanism—potentially a continental task force involving the AU Commission and AfCFTA Secretariat—to define minimum negotiation standards and promote regional mineral corridors, drawing inspiration from OPEC's collective governance model.

APA

Kitaw, M. Y., & Ismail, Y. (2025). Trading Africa's Green Minerals at a Crossroads: A Call for Regional Coordination. Forum on Trade, Environment, & the SDGs. https://tessforum.org/latest/trading-africas-green-minerals-at-a-crossroads-a-call-for-regional-coordination

Chicago

Kitaw, Marit Y., and Yasmin Ismail. Trading Africa's Green Minerals at a Crossroads: A Call for Regional Coordination. Forum on Trade, Environment, & the SDGs, 2025. https://tessforum.org/latest/trading-africas-green-minerals-at-a-crossroads-a-call-for-regional-coordination.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Kitaw |first1=Marit Y. |last2=Ismail |first2=Yasmin |title=Trading Africa's Green Minerals at a Crossroads: A Call for Regional Coordination |publisher=Forum on Trade, Environment, & the SDGs |date=30 October 2025 |url=https://tessforum.org/latest/trading-africas-green-minerals-at-a-crossroads-a-call-for-regional-coordination |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{kitaw2025trading, author = {Kitaw, Marit Y. and Ismail, Yasmin}, title = {{Trading Africa's Green Minerals at a Crossroads: A Call for Regional Coordination}}, institution = {Forum on Trade, Environment, \& the SDGs}, year = {2025}, month = oct, url = {https://tessforum.org/latest/trading-africas-green-minerals-at-a-crossroads-a-call-for-regional-coordination}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }