The global transition to a low-carbon economy is reshaping the geography of industrial production. Governments and industries seek to secure resilient supply chains for critical minerals and battery materials. Meanwhile, competition is increasingly shifting beyond resource extraction toward the manufacturing capabilities that underpin the energy transition.
Countries that succeed are likely to be those combining mineral endowments with industrial ecosystems capable of attracting investment, fostering innovation, and integrating into regional and global value chains.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Zambia occupy a unique position within this evolving landscape. Together, they host one of the world’s largest concentrations of copper and cobalt resources and have emerged as indispensable suppliers of minerals required for battery production. But mineral wealth alone does not guarantee industrial development. The two governments launched a joint initiative in 2022 to establish battery value chains through coordinated industrial development centred on special economic zones (SEZs) in Musompo and Ndola.
This report examines the readiness of that initiative. It assesses whether the policy, institutional, and economic conditions required to support competitive battery-related industries are in place and identifies practical pathways for strengthening implementation.
This analysis focuses on the DRC and Zambia. Its findings speak more broadly to a question increasingly confronting mineral-producing economies: how can critical minerals become a catalyst for industrial transformation rather than simply another export commodity?
