Zambia and Southern Africa urged to accelerate green industrialisation and build regional value chains

Lusaka, Zambia, 31 August 2026 (ECA) - Stakeholders have urged Zambia and Southern African countries to accelerate green and inclusive industrialisation by ensuring that the exploitation of natural resources including renewable energy results in the development of productive industries, quality jobs, and increased economic value locally.

The call was made at a national workshop in Lusaka today, August 31, 2026, where participants reviewed regional studies on innovative climate action and green industrialisation. The ECA-led initiative, supported by UN Trade and Development, focuses on Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The workshop reviewed the four studies on green industrial policy; industrial upgrading and technology transfer; green energy transition; and the role of the private sector and MSMEs in the circular economy. Participants called for turning the findings into practical policy options.

Speaking at the workshop, Mr Crusivia C. Hichikumba, Permanent Secretary for Investment and Industrialisation at Zambia's Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry, underlined that green industrialisation was an economic necessity for building competitive, inclusive and environmentally sustainable industries that create decent jobs and improve livelihoods.

He said droughts, floods, changing rainfall patterns and pressure on energy generation threaten industrial production, food security, investment, and growth. Zambia's hydropower constraints due to droughts underline the need to diversify the energy mix including through the development of renewable energy resources, particularly solar, supported by national green-growth, climate and energy-transition policies. Zambia's drought and power shortages showed that reliable energy, water and transport systems are fundamental to industrial performance and regional trade.

Mr Hichikumba called for stronger partnerships among governments, development partners, financiers, businesses, academia and civil society, backed by innovation, skills, technology transfer, green finance and regional cooperation. He reaffirmed the Government's commitment to sustainable investment, innovation and competitive Zambian industries, in line with Vision 2030, AU Agenda 2063, the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap, the AfCFTA and Agenda 2030.

Speaking on behalf of Ms Eunice Kamwendo, Director of ECA's Subregional Office for Southern Africa, Ms Olayinka Bandele, Chief of the Inclusive Industrialisation Section, urged the region to move beyond exporting unprocessed natural resources and retain more value through local processing and value addition.

"The question is not whether Zambia has resources to industrialise, but whether we can capture more of the value they create within the economy," she said.

She cited Zambia's copper and gemstones and the rising demand for minerals used in renewable energy, electric vehicles and storage systems, as opportunities for processing, refining, component manufacturing (battery precursors) and productive employment in green value chains.

Ms Bandele emphasized this why green industrialization matters. That it provides an opportunity to pursue industrialization and climate action together, to build industries that are not only more productive and competitive, but also more resource-efficient, energy-efficient and resilient to climate change.

Mr Paul Chisunka, a Board Trustee of the Zambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry, called for a regional "Lusaka Compact on Green Industrialisation" to convert policy ambitions from these studies into bankable projects, local production, technology transfer and sustainable jobs. He emphasised that the region needed factories to turn copper into cables, battery minerals into precursor materials, agricultural waste into energy and fertiliser, and sunlight into reliable clean power for production.

Mr Chisunka advised that the studies should form one proposition linking energy, minerals, manufacturing, trade, finance, technology and skills. The impact of these initiatives should be judged by the factories built, the number of African enterprises developed and the extent of improving the livelihoods of citizens.

He advised on the availability of ZACCI to work with government, ECA, UN Trade and Development and other partners to identify firms for regional value chains development, remove financing and regulatory bottlenecks, and to connect local suppliers with anchor companies.

The workshop will proffer practical recommendations and commitments to accelerate green, inclusive industrialisation across Southern Africa.

Media Contact

Bedson Nyoni
Senior Information Management Assistant
ECA Subregional Office for Southern Africa
Email: [email protected]

Issued by:
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Economic Commission for Africa
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