Programme > Green industrialisation
Advancing green industrialisation and regional integration
The global industrial landscape is shifting, the opportunity is now
The vision
From extraction to transformation: competitive, low-carbon African economies that retain value locally, generate decent work at scale, strengthen regional markets and anchor resilience within a decarbonising global system. In such economies, green industrialisation is not an environmental add-on. It is the foundation of economic sovereignty, productive employment and long-term competitiveness.
The challenge
The continent with some of the world’s largest reserves of cobalt, manganese and platinum processes a fraction of what it extracts. Likewise, the continent with the youngest workforce and the fastest-growing cities imports most of what it consumes. This is not an accident of geography or capacity. It is the legacy of an economic structure that can, and must, change.
Across much of Africa, economic structures remain anchored in the export of raw materials with limited domestic value addition. While these sectors generate revenue, they create too few jobs, constrain skills development and limit diversified industrial capability. Regional fragmentation compounds this: intra-African trade accounts for roughly 15% of total exports, one of the lowest regional trade shares in the world. Markets remain segmented, infrastructure corridors are incomplete and regulatory systems are not fully harmonised.
The global climate transition is reshaping trade, investment and industrial policy at pace. For Africa, this creates new pressures as well as new openings – and the two are inseparable. The question is whether the continent is positioned to capture the opportunity before the risks compound. The momentum is real. But the remaining barriers are structural and it is here that sustained, well-designed support can make a meaningful difference.
Our role
The ACF works to reduce fragmentation and support alignment across the policy domains that determine industrial outcomes. Our objective is for Africa's industrial assets, regional platforms and climate commitments to reinforce one another and translate into productive employment, retained value and durable economic sovereignty.
- We work to improve coherence across green industrial, trade, investment, climate and energy policy frameworks, ensuring that decarbonisation reinforces competitiveness, and that equity, social protection and local ownership are embedded into transition planning rather than treated as afterthoughts.
- We support the scaling of domestic value addition in minerals, manufacturing and agroecology, strengthening skills, productive capacity and decent employment through community-led and locally anchored value chains.
- We advance renewable-powered industrial corridors, parks and low-carbon production hubs linked to domestic and regional markets and strengthen the implementation of the AfCFTA through harmonised standards, coordinated infrastructure planning and aligned investment frameworks.
- Industrial upgrading and clean energy deployment are not separate agendas. We work to connect them by ensuring that decarbonisation reinforces rather than constrains competitiveness, and that regional agreements translate into practical, sustained outcomes for African economies and their people.
