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The policy brief highlights the potential of digital public infrastructure (DPI)—combining digital identification and payments on open platforms—to support Africa's green industrialization. It specifically identifies energy data exchange as a way to optimize the flow of renewable energy. The author asserts that most African nations currently lack the necessary contextualized policies to leverage DPI, urging leaders to adopt an 'all-of-government' policy approach and create investment incentives to foster a strong business environment for green industrialization.

The G20 is assessed as an effective tool for short-term macroeconomic crisis response but a failure in delivering structural economic justice. While it mobilised trillions during the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, it has consistently prioritised creditor interests and market stability over the needs of the Global South. The report highlights systemic failures in international financial architecture reform, sovereign debt restructuring, and climate finance, where funding remains insufficient and skewed toward profitable mitigation. However, recent Global South presidencies (Indonesia, India, Brazil, and South Africa) have successfully introduced new priorities, such as taxing the super-rich and the care economy. The authors recommend that the G20 redefine 'crisis' to include social and ecological threats and adopt justice-based metrics for success.

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.

The author argues that as more jurisdictions implement border carbon adjustments (BCAs), the lack of harmonized standards for measuring, reporting, and verifying emissions could create a "trade-restrictive, costly mess." While full harmonization is deemed unrealistic due to differing national economic and political realities, the document proposes "interoperability" as a viable alternative. This approach would involve splitting emissions accounting into discrete modules, harmonizing basic reporting information, and mutually recognizing accredited verifiers. The author suggests that existing forums like the OECD's Inclusive Forum for Carbon Mitigation Approaches and the Climate Club are appropriate venues for this coordination, warning that interoperability will be harder to achieve once multiple regimes are fully operational.

The document argues that while North-South just energy transition partnerships are innovative, they are limited by issues of financing, local ownership, and equity. South-South cooperation (SSC) is presented as a complementary approach that can foster peer learning and context-specific, justice-centred solutions focusing on energy access, job creation, and socio-political inclusion. The brief highlights South Africa and Colombia as examples of countries facing transition challenges with untapped potential for cooperation in mine closure, green industrialization, and community benefit-sharing.

This report by the Stockholm Environment Institute examines the global trend of 'green industrial policies' and the risks they pose to emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs). It argues that current policies in major economies often prioritize domestic benefits and geopolitical security over global fairness, potentially creating a 'two-speed' transition that hinders global climate goals. The document proposes several pathways to ensure a more inclusive transition, including scaled-up climate finance, technology transfer, and the adaptation of trade rules.

The report examines the 'renaissance' of green industrial policy, defining it as government intervention to achieve environmental goals alongside economic growth. Through case studies of China, the US, the EU, Canada, Brazil, and South Korea, it highlights a shift toward interventionism driven by climate urgency and geopolitical rivalry. The authors argue that while these policies can accelerate decarbonization and lower technology costs globally, they risk increasing international inequality, creating market distortions, and triggering trade conflicts, particularly for developing nations with limited fiscal capacity.

The report analyzes the global trend toward 'green industrial policies'—characterized by state intervention through subsidies, procurement, and local content requirements—and warns that these measures often prioritize domestic benefits over global equity. While EMDEs can benefit from lower technology costs and new trade opportunities in critical minerals, they face risks of 'extractive lock-in' and market distortions. The authors propose pathways for a more inclusive transition, including preferential technology licensing, scaled-up climate finance, and the recycling of carbon border adjustment revenues to support industrial upgrading in developing nations.

The document examines the shortcomings of Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs), noting their tendency toward techno-economic framing and donor-driven agendas. It proposes South-South cooperation (SSC) as a vital alternative that leverages shared socio-economic challenges and peer learning to foster more inclusive, justice-centred transitions. Using South Africa and Colombia as case studies, the brief identifies specific opportunities for collaboration in mine closure, green industrialization, and institutional coordination to move beyond one-size-fits-all models.

The report examines the evolution of state governance in the Global South, utilizing World Bank governance indicators and four global scenarios (Growth, Sustainable, Divided, and War) to project potential outcomes. It highlights a critical gap between political participation and institutional performance, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, and warns of the systemic risks posed by rising debt, digital divides, and climate vulnerability. The analysis suggests that future state legitimacy will shift from procedural norms toward tangible performance and hybrid governance models that integrate traditional and non-state authorities.

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) argues that investment treaties must evolve from static instruments of investor protection into policy tools that address specific climate challenges. The submission outlines a three-step framework: assessing the realistic capabilities and limitations of treaties, identifying specific climate-related policy problems (such as energy sector bottlenecks and fossil fuel subsidies), and determining avenues for positive contributions, including enhancing transparency, requiring responsible business conduct, and facilitating cross-border cooperation.

The document defines green industrial policy as government strategies to develop sustainable industries, such as renewable energy and green steel, while phasing out polluting sectors. It highlights that fossil fuel subsidies, which reached $7 trillion worldwide in 2022, hinder the competitiveness of renewables. While countries like China, the US, and EU members have successfully used national policies to boost green tech, developing nations face barriers including limited financing, skills shortages, and intellectual property restrictions. The author argues that the G20 must ensure a just transition by promoting technology transfer, fair trade, and the creation of decent work, while avoiding policies like the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism that may penalise carbon-intensive developing economies.

The statement contends that current global trade frameworks often undermine the climate ambitions of developing nations through protectionist policies and geopolitical self-interest. It highlights the negative potential of the EU's Carbon-Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and the limitations of the International Maritime Organization's shipping emissions tax. The author advocates for the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) and regional coalitions as viable alternatives to a 'broken' World Trade Organization (WTO) to foster green industrialization, technology transfer, and climate adaptation, specifically citing Mozambique's vulnerability as a case for adaptation-focused trade policy.

The G20 is a consensus-seeking dialogue mechanism established in 1999 to address global financial crises, comprising 19 countries, the European Union, and the African Union. It operates through a rotating presidency—with South Africa hosting in 2025—and is organized into Finance and Sherpa tracks. While it lacks a formal international mandate or binding decision-making power, it provides a platform for global economic coordination and civil society engagement via 'Engagement Groups' such as the C20.

The document analyzes the systemic difficulties G20 nations face in transitioning from fossil fuels, citing economic dependencies, infrastructure lock-in, and social risks to workers. It notes a failure to meet 2009 G20 commitments to phase out subsidies, with G7 and developing nations spending hundreds of billions in 2023. The text emphasizes South Africa's 2025 G20 presidency as an opportunity to champion a people-centered approach involving green industrial hubs and socio-economic safeguards for coal-dependent regions.

This fact sheet defines green industrial policy (GIP) as government strategies to promote sustainable industries and phase out greenhouse gas emitters. It highlights the success of China's electric vehicle industry as a model for GIP but warns that developing countries face significant financing, skills, and technological barriers. The document emphasizes the role of the G20 in shaping global GIP principles, particularly under South Africa's agenda, which focuses on leveraging critical minerals to drive inclusive economic growth and manufacturing in Africa.

African Civil Society Organisations have urged the South African G20 Presidency to champion a justice-driven energy transition by focusing on critical minerals. They call for the support of the African Green Minerals Strategy to move the Global South up the value chain, the implementation of people-centred governance including Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC), and the transformation of global industrial financing and technology transfer. The group advocates for public investment in infrastructure to address energy poverty for 650 million Africans and the creation of a Global Critical Energy Transition Minerals Skills Compact for women and youth.

The author argues that the OACPS should move beyond traditional tariff liberalization to a 'muscular' trade and sustainability agenda at the WTO. This proposed plan includes negotiating a plurilateral agreement on green industrialization, creating a dedicated technical facility for sustainable development, and establishing a coherence platform to align trade with global sustainability initiatives like the UNFCCC and UN SDGs. To support this, the document suggests replicating EU models of strategic partnerships on critical raw materials and Clean Trade and Investment Partnerships (CTIPs), which combine private investment with public guarantees and technology transfer. The author emphasizes that such an integrated approach is essential for OACPS members—particularly Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and commodity-dependent nations—to mitigate climate vulnerability and transition toward green industrialization.

The IEJ statement advocates for G20 High-Level Principles on Green Industrial Policy that prioritize state-led investment and structural transformation over private-sector-led, export-oriented models. It emphasizes that green industrialization can create approximately 24 million new jobs globally and reduce inequality by shifting developing economies away from commodity extraction toward green manufacturing and domestic technological capabilities.

The paper proposes a state-led fiscal strategy for South Africa's energy transition, centered on a climate response fund. It recommends mobilizing domestic resources through carbon taxes, fuel levies, and mineral royalties, alongside the issuance of climate bonds. The goal is to protect vulnerable workers, particularly in coal-dependent regions like Mpumalanga, and provide an estimated R100 billion annually for climate priorities.