The North African Moroccan 360 News Network pointed out in a related long article in May this year that China’s omnipresence in the lithium battery market naturally displeases its competitor the United States. To counter Beijing's rise, Washington has implemented an offensive strategy that has made no secret of its criticism of Chinese companies' irregular practices such as environmental damage and human rights abuses during mining in Africa. At the end of September 2022, as part of the Mineral Resources Security Partnership co-sponsored by the United States, Japan, and the European Union, the United States organized a ministerial meeting in New York and invited major African mining countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, and Tanzania. join. Three months later, during the US-Africa Summit, Washington signed a memorandum of understanding with Congo (DRC) and Zambia to develop and establish electric vehicle battery industry chains in these two countries. At the same time, US dignitaries such as US Vice President Harris, Treasury Secretary Yellen, US Ambassador to the United Nations Greenfield, Secretary of State Blinken, and First Lady Jill Biden have paid intensive visits to the above-mentioned countries.

The European Union, which has been overtaken by the two mining giants, is also eyeing Africa. The European approach is to first start with the formulation of a policy framework; on July 14, 2021, as part of the broader European Green Deal (EGD), the European Commission adopted a series of intermediate proposals, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. A 55% reduction from 1990 levels to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, making Europe a forerunner in international climate policy.

The impact of the European Green Deal on Africa is manifold. The most prominent thing is that Europe's demand for fossil fuels has declined, while the demand for key raw materials for energy transition such as cobalt, nickel, and lithium has greatly increased, which will greatly affect the global market and thus affect African countries that rely on oil and mineral resources. economy.

Zainab Usman, director of the Africa Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, wrote in detail the impact of the European Green Deal on African countries in seven major areas: agriculture, biodiversity, energy, critical Raw materials (CRM), circular economy, new technologies and finance.

To achieve these goals, Europe is phasing out fossil fuels by 2050, which has led to a significant reduction in upstream investment in hydrocarbon development projects in Africa by European development agencies and concessional lending institutions, while investment in research and development projects for key ore mining has continued to increase. Horizon Europe is a R&D investment plan with a total value of 95.5 billion euros from 2021 to 2027, about 35% of which is dedicated to climate research. The program will provide opportunities for collaboration between European and African industry and research communities.

Usman's article points out that by 2030, the consumption of key raw materials is expected to increase fourfold, with graphite increasing fourfold, cobalt increasing fivefold, and lithium increasing eighteenfold; by 2050, graphite increasing 13 times, and cobalt increasing 14 times, lithium increased nearly 60 times. Currently, 28% of the EU's barite demand comes from Morocco, 64% of its bauxite comes from Guinea, 68% of its cobalt and 36% of its tantalum comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and about 90% of its platinum group metals (PGM) comes from South Africa. Other countries, such as Ghana, Zambia and Zimbabwe, also have the potential to supply copper, platinum group metals and bauxite to Europe. Demand for critical raw materials creates opportunities for Africa to replace Asian supply chains.

The EU holds 28% of the world's registered patents for environment-related innovations and is a leader in the transformation of green technologies. In March this year, the EU announced at the Kinshasa Economic Forum the launch of negotiations with the Democratic Republic of the Congo to help the country establish a regional battery production center. Since the European Parliament voted in June 2022 to ban the sale of new fuel-powered vehicles in the EU from 2035, ensuring the electric vehicle battery supply chain has become urgent, especially ensuring the supply of key raw materials lithium, cobalt and copper.

All of these resources are abundant in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The country provides 70% of the world's cobalt, is one of the top five copper producers, and is preparing to develop its significant lithium resources. According to a research report released by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BloombergNEF) in November 2021, the development of the battery industry chain in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is extremely competitive. For example, building a 10,000-ton battery material factory in the Democratic Republic of the Congo requires an investment of US$39 million, in Poland it requires US$65 million, and in China it requires US$112 million.

Kwasi Ampofo, the main author of the report, said: "Battery raw materials are generally imported from Africa, processed and refined in China, and then exported to Europe. European car manufacturers can completely shorten the transportation distance and use Congo (DRC) ) hydroelectric network and the advantages of on-site extraction of raw materials to reduce emissions.”

The report pointed out that in this electric vehicle race, China is clearly ahead of the other two competitors. Brian Menell, CEO of TechMet, an Irish battery metal mining company, published an article in the British "Economist" magazine at the end of February this year. He pointed out that in the fifteen years since China took off in the field of electric vehicles, the world has been sleeping. . So far, bystanders of this competition between China, the United States and Europe, African key raw material storage countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia have decided to get rid of passivity by investing in the battery production chain. The two countries signed an agreement at the end of March 2023 to conduct a feasibility study on the establishment of an electric vehicle battery industry chain.

The future factory will be built in the Congolese province of Haut-Katanga, a special economic zone bordering Zambia. Neighboring countries with large reserves of key raw materials such as Mali, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and other countries may draw inspiration from this.