The Green Leap

This report, commissioned by Humana People to People and Sympany+, assesses the socioeconomic impact of the second-hand clothing industry in EU27+ countries and selected African nations, exploring its economic value and employment effects across continents.

Africa’s mineral riches are central to its history. However, the race to combat climate change has reignited interest in the continent given its vast deposits of critical minerals. Southern Africa, in particular, has received much attention with the development of several key transport corridors with the almost explicit purpose of scaling up the availability of these minerals on international markets. We set out to investigate the economic potential of the region in terms of its critical minerals while taking into consideration what the establishment of these corridors means for the regional economy.

We have identified five key challenges Africa faces in transitioning to renewable energy at the scale needed to combat climate change and meet the continent’s climate commitments. Perhaps the central challenge is the prevailing socio-economic conditions on the continent, which offer little wiggle room for governments to divert fiscal revenue to sustainability-related initiatives. With most African economies being relatively undiversified and many reliant on fossil fuel exports, the global transition to sustainable practices threatens economic losses if not mitigated ‒ emphasising the need to diversify economic activity.

Unsurprisingly, the COP28 international climate conference did not end with a dramatic shift in the world’s response to climate change. However, it did mark the beginning of the end for fossil fuels as the main energy source in the global economy.