Progress through Partnerships: Unlocking Investments, Infrastructure and Markets for Value Addition and Inclusive Development
Africa stands at the forefront of the global energy transition – not only as a continent endowed with abundant critical minerals but also as a growing market for clean energy solutions and green technologies. Governments across the continent have laid out bold policy visions to industrialize and capture more value from these resources, from battery-grade minerals to electric mobility and renewable energy. However, ambition needs to be matched by implementation, and partnerships will remain fundamental for unlocking investments, infrastructure, and access to technology, know-how and markets.
Aligned with Mining Indaba 2026’s theme “Stronger Together: Progress through Partnerships”, Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), The Critical Minerals Africa Group, UNIDO’s Global Alliance for Responsible and Green Minerals, and the Council for Critical Minerals Development in the Global South, and the Paris Peace Forum’s Global Council for Responsible Transition Minerals, are convening a series of roundtables to convene governments, industrial development corporations, regional and national investment agencies and industry to discuss concrete partnerships necessary to address key gaps facing Africa’s value addition implementation agenda.
Roundtable 1
Energy as an Infrastructure Enabler: Unlocking the Renewables Opportunity for Powering the Minerals Value Chain
Partners: SEforALL, Council for Critical Minerals Development in the Global South, Critical Minerals Africa Group (CMAG)
Date & Time: Wednesday, 11 February 2026 | 09:00–10:30
Access to reliable, affordable and sufficient energy will underpin countries’ ambitions to attract investment in local beneficiation and value addition projects. Energy is a key infrastructure enabler, and renewables offer an increasingly cost-effective, abundantly available and environmentally sustainable source of energy for many countries in Africa. With industry’s growing sensitivity to ESG and efforts to develop and contract renewable supply, energy sector supply-side and infrastructure planning, and regulatory frameworks need to account for growing demand and build enabling conditions for renewable energy supply to be effectively integrated into minerals production and value addition processes.
The roundtable will bring together practical examples from the continent on innovative policy, regulatory and delivery model approaches that enable a shift towards strengthening renewable energy supply for mining and minerals value addition, while also nurturing a domestic clean technology industry. The discussions will highlight suggested actions to scale-up investment in renewable energy projects in the mining sector, including generation and national and regional transmission infrastructure.
Roundtable 2
Financing Value Addition in Africa: Framework Conditions and Financing Mechanisms to Drive Investment in Clean Energy Transition Mineral Value Chains
Partners: SEforALL, Council for Critical Minerals Development in the Global South, UNIDO Global Alliance for Responsible and Green Minerals
Date & Time: Wednesday, 11 February 2026 | 11:30–13:00
Anchored in the objectives of the AU’s African Green Minerals Strategy and the G20 Critical Minerals Framework, the session will bring practical insights and explore models for blended and catalytic finance that can develop the domestic supplier service sector to the mining industry, drive industrial growth based on value addition of minerals, promote technology transfer, and build regional manufacturing ecosystems for key clean energy technologies such as batteries, solar PVs, and EV components. By clarifying what framework conditions are necessary to attract investment, identify the investment gaps and how financial collaboration can close them, this dialogue aims to define a shared pathway toward a more inclusive and competitive African role in global clean energy supply chains.
Roundtable 3
Enhancing High Standards Without Fragmenting Mineral Markets: A Global Dialogue Beyond the G7
Partners: Paris Peace Forum, Global Council for Responsible Transition Minerals, SEforALL, Council for Critical Minerals Development in the Global South
Date & Time: Wednesday, 11 February 2026 | 15:00–16:30
As standards-based approaches to critical mineral supply chains gain traction, there is a growing risk of market fragmentation and exclusion of producing countries. This roundtable in the margins of Mining Indaba 2026 will convene producing countries, industry leaders, G7 representatives, and experts to assess evolving governance initiatives, examine risks and opportunities in standards-based markets, explore cooperation opportunities beyond G7 and G20 economies, identify mechanisms to scale responsible investment, and inform the next 2026 French G7 presidency.
Contact for expressions of interest:
darryn.allan@seforall.org
