Pathways to Green African Industrialisation report launched at Africa Climate Summit in Addis Ababa
Media Statement | Africa’s path to sustainable growth must put industrialisation first while maximising green opportunities, advises the Green Industrial Development Expert Panel (GIDEP) in its flagship position paper entitled Pathways to Green African Industrialisation.
Africa’s path to sustainable growth must put industrialisation first while maximising green opportunities, advises the Green Industrial Development Expert Panel (GIDEP) in its flagship position paper entitled Pathways to Green African Industrialisation.
In March 2025 the University of Cape Town’s Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance and the African Climate Foundation (ACF) convened a Green Industrial Development Expert Panel. The Expert Panel brings together leading African strategic thinkers on greening industrialisation as well as experts from elsewhere in the global South. The Expert Panel is aimed at the formulation of African-led regional and national policy positions and strategies for green industrialisation and to equip the continent’s leadership to effectively participate in key international fora and negotiation processes.
The Nelson Mandela School and African Climate Foundation launched the Expert Panel’s flagship report on Monday, 8 September 2025 at the 2nd Africa Climate Summit in Addis Ababa: Pathways to Green African Industrialisation.
The report advises that notwithstanding Africa’s limited contribution to global GHG emissions, the region should embrace green industrialisation. Neither “degrowth” nor delayed clean-up strategies will suffice. Instead, Africa needs growth-oriented, context-driven industrial policies that support the development of higher value-added sectors, integrating green options along the way. This means moving beyond raw material exports and subsistence farming to:
The rapid rollout of renewable energy infrastructure as the lowest cost source of electricity and the backbone of African industrialisation.
Rapid agricultural modernisation and the “industrialisation of freshness” of high value horticultural products.
Pursuing light and medium-technology manufacturing in the medium term, supported by green industrial hubs.
Adding value to and capturing value from green and other critical minerals.
Africa needs growth-oriented, context-driven industrial policies that support the development of higher value-added sectors, while integrating green options along the way.
Geopolitical shifts have created a wider policy space for African governments. As global trade rules fragment and the return of industrial policy become mainstream, Africa can leverage the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as a platform for expanding regional markets and strengthening Africa’s bargaining power in international forums.
Africa’s ability to succeed hinges on mobilising greater finance especially from domestic sources while pushing for reforms to the global financial architecture. Green African industrialisation requires building strong, responsive state institutions that can adapt to rapid technological and market shifts, shape partnerships, and deliver results on the ground.
Media enquiries: petunia.thulo@uct.ac.za and kelly@africanclimatefoundation.org
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The Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance at the University of Cape Town offers postgraduate programmes that prepare African leaders to advance democratic governance and sustainable development. The Nelson Mandela School has been active in undertaking research and promoting policy processes on the continent to advance the creation of regional value chains.
The African Climate Foundation is the first African-led, strategic re-granter working at the nexus of climate and development. We support African-led solutions for climate resilience, climate-aligned inclusive development, and economic transformation, through catalytic partnerships, systems thinking, and narrative change.