Harnessing Africa's potential to become the global leader in energy transition

Africa is set to play a key role in global energy transition, so it’s vital those looking to develop energy or mining projects or invest in the continent are willing to have bold conversations and work with advisors with deep local expertise and understanding of the continent’s unique environments, challenges, and opportunities.

Webber Wentzel’s energy and mining teams offer multi-disciplinary expertise, capability in several languages, dual-qualified advisers, and have acted in leading multi-jurisdictional and cutting-edge matters in these sectors across the continent.

“Africa is the least electrified of any continent, and the demand in Africa for energy is massive,” says Mzukisi Kota, the firm’s Head of Energy Sector. “At the same time, the critical minerals required for the energy transition are heavily present in Africa, and there’s a great history of mining here. The opportunity for developers of energy solutions, for energy generators, is massive, because you’ve got all the factors for what you would need to make a very successful and lucrative energy business.”

Africa’s unique energy and mining environment is canvassed in a new pdf guide, Harnessing Africa's potential to become the global leader in energy transition, launched by Webber Wentzel in partnership with Africa Legal this week.

The guide, available to read in full below, covers a range of key issues, challenges, and opportunities for these vital sectors in sub-Saharan Africa, including:

• how the energy and infrastructure sectors are adjusting to climate change with greater use of early warning systems and modern technology, and more robust contractual provisions addressing extreme climate events; 

• how Africa is a key player in shaping the world’s future energy mix, housing significant proportions of the critical and strategic minerals required for the clean energy transition;

• how Business and Human Rights is no longer a peripheral concern but a core driver of responsible growth, risk management, and legitimacy in a rapidly evolving global and African energy ecosystem;

• how the renewable energy sector may hold the greatest space in the public imagination when it comes to future energy supply, but it is the mining industry on which the energy transition will be achieved;

• how South Africa is leading climate finance innovation through the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), to support coal-to-renewables transition, but this can trigger investor-state arbitrations from fossil fuels investors; and

• how the most successful projects are those that invest early in risk mitigation, as while disputes are inevitable, project failure isn't. 

You can read the full Webber Wentzel Energy and Mining guide, Harnessing Africa's potential to become the global leader in energy transition, here