Document Type

Memo/Briefing Note

Publication Date

4-2021

Abstract

The 2009 Africa Mining Vision (AMV) provides guidance for the industrialization of African countries by leveraging their mining sector. However, the global context has changed since its adoption. As a result, it does not include guidance on how governments should embrace the climate change agenda as an opportunity for better and further industrialization, deeper linkages, and sustainable development.

There are many ways to look at the implications of international climate change policy for Africa, including through the increased extraction of minerals needed in clean energy application and the greening of mines. The localization of global value chains – induced by a rising carbon cost and by the desire to build resilience in supply chains in light of increased pandemic risks – provides another set of opportunities.

Seizing this momentum will require policy guidance to ensure that the relocation of industries in global value chains occurs upstream (closer to mineral sources) rather than downstream (closer to final consumers). An open acknowledgment of the impact of climate change on the shifting global value chains for critical minerals and the need to broaden the governance framework to include the emerging role of sustainability and ESG requirements should form the foundation for a revised and revitalized AMV.

Read our policy brief elaborating these suggested foundations as well as research directions for a climate-smart update of the AMV.

Disciplines

Environmental Law | International Law | Natural Resources Law | Oil, Gas, and Mineral Law | Securities Law | Transnational Law

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