Southern Africa Pushes Green Industrialisation Beyond the ‘Extract and Export’ Model

Southern African policymakers are sharpening the case for green industrialisation as an economic strategy, arguing that the region’s response to climate change should also accelerate manufacturing, mineral beneficiation, regional value chains and investment.

At a two-day workshop in Harare on 3 and 4 September, Zimbabwe, the United Nations system and the UN Economic Commission for Africa called for a shift from policy declarations toward practical, investment-ready approaches capable of creating jobs and strengthening productive capacity.

Beyond extracting and exporting

The central argument is familiar across resource-rich African economies: exporting raw commodities captures only part of their potential economic value. Zimbabwe’s Industry and Commerce authorities used the meeting to call for a move away from an “extract and export” model toward manufacturing, beneficiation and value addition in agriculture and strategic minerals.

The four regional studies under review cover green industrial policy, industrial upgrading, energy-transition pathways and participation by the private sector and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in the circular economy.

ECA said climate variability is already affecting energy security, agriculture, food systems and manufacturing. Its position is that climate action can simultaneously become a route to structural economic transformation if it is tied to industrial policy, cleaner energy and regional value chains.

Minerals are only the starting point

Southern Africa holds substantial deposits of minerals required by the global energy transition. But possessing minerals does not automatically create industrial capability. Capturing more value requires reliable power, transport infrastructure, technology, skills, finance and policies that encourage processing and manufacturing close to the resource base.

This is where the regional dimension matters. Individual economies may not have sufficient market size or complete supply chains to support every stage of production. SADC and the African Continental Free Trade Area offer frameworks through which countries can specialise while building interconnected regional industries.

The financing problem

Turning industrial ambition into factories, power systems and logistics networks will require substantial capital. ECA’s Harare discussions emphasised better access to green finance for smaller businesses as well as fiscal incentives and a more enabling policy environment.

The challenge is particularly relevant as global investment becomes increasingly concentrated in strategic sectors. UN Trade and Development reported this month that artificial intelligence infrastructure, semiconductors, critical minerals and energy-transition technologies accounted for 44% of announced global greenfield project value in 2025, while low and lower-middle-income economies attracted only around 10% of investment in those sectors between 2020 and 2025.

From strategy to investable projects

Southern Africa does not lack industrial strategies. The harder task is converting them into bankable projects, predictable regulation and regional infrastructure that investors and local firms can use.

Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Industry and Commerce identifies value-chain development, sustainable industrial enterprises, investment mobilisation and regional integration among its core responsibilities. Its current policy framework includes a National Development Strategy, local-content strategy and sector-specific industrial programmes.

The Harare process is therefore best understood not as another climate workshop, but as part of a wider test for the region. Southern Africa has many of the minerals, renewable-energy resources and market frameworks needed for green industry. The question is whether those advantages can be assembled into competitive regional value chains before the next generation of global industrial capacity is built elsewhere.

Sources: UN Economic Commission for Africa, 3 September 2026; UN Trade and Development, 2 September 2026; Zimbabwe Ministry of Industry and Commerce; Zimbabwe Ministry of Industry and Commerce policy and strategy repository.