UN's green mineral guide: Africa's untapped potential needs more

Mutuso Dhliwayo is a lawyer and the executive director of the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA), a member of the Publish What You Pay network.

This week, the United Nations took an important step when it published global principles to guide the effort for fairness and benefit-sharing in the scramble for transition minerals - the materials essential for building clean energy technologies like batteries, solar panels, and electric vehicles.

As the world accelerates toward a greener future, the countries sitting on these mineral deposits must see a fair share of benefits. 

This is an encouraging moment, signalling global recognition of the need for responsible mining practices and the protection of vulnerable communities.

It is particularly reassuring to see the principles establish a High-Level Expert Advisory Group that will be tasked with accelerating greater benefit-sharing, value addition and economic diversification through equitable trade, investment, finance, and taxation.

Now we need to put these words into action. Many mineral-rich countries, particularly in Africa, continue to face structural barriers that prevent them from fully benefiting from their resources.

Without addressing these barriers, we risk repeating the age-old pattern of extraction with little return thereby perpetuating the resource curse that has affected these resource-rich countries. 

The challenge for Africa

Africa holds over 40% of the world’s reserves of transition minerals like cobalt, lithium, and copper. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) alone accounts for 60% of the world’s cobalt, which is critical for the batteries powering electric vehicles.

The continent should be at the forefront of the energy transition, not just as a supplier of raw materials but as a key player in the entire value chain. Yet, most of Africa’s minerals are exported in raw form, while other nations profit from processing and transforming them into usable products.

New research from Publish What You Pay, released last week, highlights just how much potential is being left on the table. With the right policies to keep more of the processing and manufacturing on the continent, Africa could boost its GDP by at least $24 billion a year and create 2.3 million jobs.

But this is about more than economic growth. Africa’s mineral wealth also holds the key to solving the continent’s energy crisis, with 600 million Africans currently lacking access to electricity. By using its own resources to build clean energy infrastructure, Africa could achieve energy sovereignty and development.

The U.N. principles provide a foundation for responsible mining practices, but they do not fully address the global trade rules that prevent poorer countries from adding value to their own resources.

Free trade agreements and bilateral investment treaties often give highly industrialised countries, multinational corporations and already powerful nations the upper hand, allowing them to import raw materials at low cost and profit from the more lucrative stages of production. These agreements can block mineral-producing countries from establishing the policies and strategies they need to protect their resources, environment, and citizens.

Unlocking potential

Africa, and other mineral-rich regions, need more than principles; we need structural reforms to global trade and investment frameworks. Countries must be able to renegotiate trade agreements and reclaim the power to retain more value from their resources.

The U.N.’s principles, though an important step, should be part of a broader push to reform these systems and dismantle the barriers that keep financial and energy wealth concentrated in a few nations.

One path forward is regional cooperation. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) presents an opportunity for African countries to strengthen their bargaining power by trading with each other and developing regional value chains that process minerals locally.

By doing this, they can capture more of the economic benefits, create jobs, and build the infrastructure needed for sustainable development. These are the key to unlocking Africa’s full potential.

The UN has laid important groundwork, but now is the time to go further. Governments must take bold steps to ensure that mineral-rich countries can use their resources to benefit their own people.

Civil society groups, Indigenous Peoples, and local communities need a seat at the table to ensure that mining is done responsibly, and that the wealth generated from these resources is shared fairly.

The world needs Africa’s minerals, but it’s time for Africa to benefit from them too. If we’re serious about creating a just energy transition, we need to address the systems that have historically kept wealth and power in the hands of a few.

The U.N. principles are a step in the right direction, and true equity will only come when global leaders commit to changing the rules of the game.