By Stan Pillay, Regional Carbon and Innovation Lead at Anglo American South Africa – Member of the B20 Energy Mix & Just Transition Task Force
As South Africa hosts the G20 presidency this year, the B20 offers Africa a rare opportunity to shape the global agenda – and few issues are more critical to our continent’s future than energy. The Energy Mix & Just Transition Task Force is focused on one of the most urgent questions of our time: how to secure energy that is affordable, reliable and sustainable, while driving growth, industrialisation and inclusion.
Energy is the foundation of modern economies. It determines whether a mine can expand, whether a factory can compete, whether a small business can survive, and whether households can live with dignity. Yet access remains deeply unequal. Across sub-Saharan Africa, more than 600 million people still live without electricity, according to the IEA (2024) – a gap that constrains education, healthcare and livelihoods, and limits the continent’s ability to reach its potential.
At the same time, the opportunity is immense. Africa is home to abundant solar and wind resources, significant hydropower potential, natural gas and many of the critical minerals essential to building the technologies of a low-carbon future. Its young and growing population will soon be one of the world’s most dynamic workforces. With the right investments, partnerships and policy frameworks, these advantages can power industrialisation, reduce poverty and place Africa at the centre of the global energy transition.
At Anglo American, we have seen first-hand how energy shapes competitiveness and how enabling policy can unlock progress. When we began planning a renewable energy ecosystem for our South African operations, many of the regulatory conditions did not yet exist. By working closely with government and industry peers, we helped shape a more enabling environment. Today, Envusa Energy , our joint venture with EDF Renewables, has secured financing for 520 MW of wind and solar capacity. Once online, these projects will allow for the wheeling of clean energy to our operations, cut emissions, lower costs and contribute toward supply security.
The B20 Task Force's priorities align closely with this experience. They include secure and affordable energy, increased investment in renewables, clear policy signals to de-risk capital, enhanced skills pipelines for new technologies and more interconnected infrastructure to balance cross-border supply and demand. These are not theoretical aspirations; they are the conditions for competitiveness, job creation and inclusive growth.
Beyond supply, a just transition must also build value across the energy ecosystem. Africa’s resource base provides an opportunity not only to generate power but also to manufacture low-carbon technologies, process critical minerals like copper and platinum group metals, and develop regional supply chains. By localising more of this value, we can create industries, expand skills and capture a greater share of the economic benefits of the transition.
We are already seeing what this looks like in practice. In Chile, all the electricity supplied to our copper operations now comes from renewable sources, cutting emissions while enhancing long-term cost stability. Closer to home, Envusa’s projects are being designed to integrate South African suppliers and skills development programmes, laying the foundations for a broader green industrial base.
Delivering on this potential will require collaboration across sectors and borders. Governments must provide policy certainty and regulatory clarity. Businesses must invest in innovation, infrastructure and skills. Development finance institutions and multilateral partners must deploy risk-mitigation tools that unlock private capital. And regional partnerships will be essential to connect grids and expand cross-border power trade.
For Africa, the energy transition is not a distant aspiration; it is a necessity. But it is also a once-in-a-generation opportunity: to redefine our role in global energy systems, to industrialise and build out a future in which prosperity is shared more widely. With the right policies, partnerships and ambition, Africa’s just energy transition can power not only our continent’s growth, but also a more sustainable, resilient and inclusive global economy.