At the 14th International Forum on Energy for Sustainable Development, the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Claver Gatete, sounded the alarm about the continent's lagging progress in achieving universal access to electricity. Nearly 600 million Africans still live without power, even though Africa possesses more than 30% of the world's reserves of strategic minerals such as lithium, cobalt, and manganese, yet remains largely unindustrialized.

This situation reflects a major paradox: considerable natural potential that struggles to translate into economic development and job creation.

To address this situation, Claver Gatete proposed a multi-pronged approach. The development of green minerals must support local industrialization capable of creating jobs and strengthening African value chains.

The establishment of appropriate and stable regulatory frameworks is considered essential to attract investment while protecting local interests. Innovation in rural electrification, through mini-grids and solar solutions, appears to be an effective way to reduce inequalities in access to energy.

At the same time, the consolidation of international partnerships, as well as the strengthening of intra-African cooperation, should make it possible to pool resources, technologies and financing.

Claver Gatete also emphasized the need to rebalance the cost of capital to make energy investments more accessible to African actors and called for a just and inclusive energy transition. This strategy aims to transform the continent's potential into sustainable, industrial, and job-creating growth by 2030, making energy a central driver of Africa's emergence.