The Africa Green Industrialisation Initiative is Africa’s most ambitious effort yet to turn our energy and resource wealth into engines of climate-smart industrial growth. From a declaration at the COP28 climate summit in 2023 to the landmark Cooperation Framework signed in Addis Ababa this week, where the continent’s leading financial institutions committed over $100 billion to its implementation, we now have a framework built for speed, real projects, and jobs, says Mohamed Adow, Founder and Director, Power Shift Africa
I would like to take this opportunity to laud the leaders of Africa, and particularly the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, for the inspiring outcome of the Second Africa Climate Summit (ACS2), which represents a decisive turning point for our continent and the world at a time of growing geopolitical uncertainty and climate urgency. In an era where many nations hesitate or backslide, Africa’s most climate- vulnerable regions have over the last three days sent the unambiguous signal that this continent is not only committed to action, but also determined to lead.
Through this summit, Africa has stepped into a new role as a driver of global climate ambition. For instance, the commitment to generate 300GW of renewable energy by 2030 is absolutely transformational. With 40% of the world’s renewable energy potential, Africa has the resources to power its own just transition and contribute to the global energy shift.
Yet today, the continent attracts a mere 2% of global renewable energy investments. This imbalance is indefensible and unsustainable, and for the just transition to succeed, capital must flow where potential is greatest, and that potential is greatest in Africa.
Our ambition is not just 300GW of power, but 300GW driving African factories and value chains, from batteries to green steel and digital infrastructure for the Artificial Intelligence era, all underpinned by Africa’s green minerals. Through the Africa Green Minerals Strategy (AGMS) and the Africa Green Industrialisation
Initiative (AGII), we have the execution platforms to industrialise green, trade regionally, and compete globally. With unity, clarity, and speed, Africa can transform its resources into dignified jobs and climate-resilient prosperity
Indeed, AGII is Africa’s most ambitious effort yet to turn our energy and resource wealth into engines of climate-smart industrial growth. From a declaration at the COP28 climate summit in 2023 to the landmark Cooperation
Framework signed in Addis Ababa this week, where the continent’s leading financial institutions committed over $100 billion to its implementation, we now have a framework built for speed, real projects, and jobs. By mobilising capital, powering net-zero industrial clusters, aligning African Continental Free Trade Area standards, and building skills, AGII is moving from promise to delivery.
On green minerals, this summit charted a new course for Africa. The continent holds the world’s most critical reserves of cobalt, lithium, and other transition minerals, essential for the clean energy future, and I’m glad to note that the era of extract-and-export is finally coming to an end. Africa’s new strategy is to move up the value chain, ensuring these resources fuel not just global decarbonisation but also African industrialisation, jobs, and development.
On food systems, ACS2 prioritised resilience and transformation. Climate change is already reshaping African agriculture, threatening food security for hundreds of millions. The Summit pointed us all to the urgency of scaling climate-smart agriculture, investing in sustainable practices, and placing farmers, especially women and smallholders, at the centre of solutions. Food is not only a survival issue but also a sovereignty one, and Africa is signalling it will no longer be left at the mercy of external shocks.
With the Addis Ababa Declaration, Africa has shown that it is moving from the margins of global decision-making to the centre, offering renewable power to fuel industries, minerals to drive the energy transition, and food systems that can be models of resilience. Africa is ready to lead; the question is whether the rest of the world is ready to follow.