Africa & Global Power

T he world’s green energy transition has a geography. It runs through the Democratic Republic of Congo, which holds more than 70 percent of global cobalt reserves and more than half of known reserves of coltan. Through Zimbabwe, Namibia, and the DRC again, which together hold significant shares of the world’s lithium. Through South Africa’s Bushveld Complex, which produces approximately 75 percent of global platinum group metals — essential for hydrogen fuel cells and catalytic converters. [1] The electric vehicles that Europe, North America, and China are producing at scale to meet their net-zero commitments run on batteries whose chemistry depends on cobalt, lithium, manganese, and nickel. The solar panels and wind turbines at the centre of the energy transition require copper, silicon, and rare earth elements. And the infrastructure of a decarbonised global economy — from transmission lines to grid storage systems — demands mineral inputs that the African continent holds in extrao...