• $28.6B invested in key energy minerals in 2024, led by lithium, cobalt, nickel
• Africa remains largely excluded from refining and advanced processing stages
• DRC, Zimbabwe push for local value addition but face structural constraints

Investment in minerals that underpin energy transition technologies is rising rapidly, yet Africa remains largely excluded from the most advanced stages of the value chain.

According to the “Global Landscape of Energy Transition Finance 2025” report published by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), investment in lithium, cobalt and nickel extraction and refining reached 28.62 billion dollars in 2024. Since 2018, cumulative investment in these three minerals stands at 86 billion dollars, with a sharp acceleration between 2022 and 2024, which accounted for nearly two-thirds of the total. The surge reflects strong global demand for batteries, electric vehicles and other low-carbon technologies.

Most of this financing is flowing to countries that dominate the full value chain, particularly the refining stage.

Lithium extraction is still concentrated in Australia, Chile, China and Argentina. Sub-Saharan Africa contributes only a small share, almost entirely from Zimbabwe, which has no domestic processing capacity. Nickel extraction is more geographically dispersed, but refining remains centered in China and Indonesia.

Cobalt shows the biggest imbalance. The Democratic Republic of Congo produces most of the world’s cobalt, yet almost all refining takes place abroad, mainly in China, followed by Finland, Canada and Norway. A handful of developing countries have limited capacity, but their role within the value chain remains small.

In response, several African countries are trying to retain more value locally. Zimbabwe plans to restrict some lithium exports from 2027 to encourage domestic processing. In the DRC, authorities have used regulatory tools to adjust production rules and support early steps toward industrialization.

These efforts reflect a desire to move up the value chain, but they face a global environment where complex refining and manufacturing activities remain concentrated in countries with strong existing industrial capacity, a level African nations have yet to reach.

Abdoullah Diop