The Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, Leila Benali, called on Thursday in Nairobi for the adoption of an African ESG framework (environmental, social, and governance criteria) related to critical minerals to ensure the energy transition.
Speaking at a panel on critical minerals and the energy transition in Africa, during the twentieth session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN-20), the minister noted that this transition requires the mobilization of more than 42 critical minerals and materials.
“We need to extract more minerals and materials in the next 30 years than the world has extracted since the dawn of humanity,” she estimated.
Ms. Benali also emphasized that Morocco proposes an OTC corridor (“Origin, Transit, Certification”) with an ESG framework tailored to Africa, designed by African mining ministers, to finance the challenge of extracting and processing critical minerals on the continent.
She further noted that the Kingdom collaborates with organizations such as the African Mineral Development Centre (AMDC) to harmonize mining policies and promote traceability and transparent governance in the supply chains of essential minerals.
The minister also highlighted the Atlantic Initiative, launched by His Majesty King Mohammed VI, which aims to transform the Atlantic Ocean into a space for South-South cooperation and to strengthen regional integration in West Africa.
Morocco can serve as a catalyst for regional and international partnerships aimed at developing sustainable mining projects across Africa, so that these metals and minerals are also processed in Africa and primarily transit and are transported through the Atlantic corridor for the benefit of the continent, she asserted.
The work of the twentieth session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN-20) began on Wednesday at the headquarters of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi, with the participation of a Moroccan delegation led by Ms. Benali.
Morocco’s participation in this conference, which is held under the theme “Four Decades of Environmental Action in Africa: Reflecting on the Past and Imagining the Future,” demonstrates its strong commitment to actively contributing to the definition and implementation of ambitious African environmental policies, in accordance with the High Guidelines of His Majesty King Mohammed VI for a sustainable future for Africa and future generations.