- The European Union plans to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Morocco on the supply of critical raw materials to accelerate the energy transition.
- The continent is expected to deliver significant quantities of critical raw materials essential to producing clean technologies such as solar panels and batteries.
The European Union plans to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Morocco on the supply of critical raw materials to accelerate the energy transition. According to a recent report on the Africa-EU Green Energy Initiative, the union had signed an MoU on essential raw materials with Namibia on the sidelines of COP 27 in Egypt. Other signings with Morocco, Uganda, South Africa, Rwanda, Senegal, Zambia, Algeria, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo are “in the pipeline”.
The African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki said: “The deal underlines a €150 billion package aiming to foster cooperation between Africa and Europe to “build a partnership of equals for the benefit of sustainable development for all”. In exchange for (co-) developing Africa’s low-carbon or carbon-free energy infrastructure, the continent is expected to deliver significant quantities of critical raw materials essential to producing clean technologies such as solar panels and batteries. Minerals such as cobalt, copper, nickel, lithium, manganese, silver, zinc, neodymium, and dysprosium are the main drivers of the global energy transition and have significant African reserves.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen added that the bloc is mobilizing funding for energy projects across Africa with the support of a newly signed financial agreement on clean energy worth €750 million. Morocco, for instance, is seeing the exploration and exploitation of manganese, silver, copper, and cobalt reserves. As exploration operations persist in Morocco and the global demand for critical raw materials is expected to soar, Morocco is likely to increase its production of these natural resources to meet shortages faced by manufacturers in Europe.