In 2025, over 20 million electric vehicles were sold worldwide – more than one in four of all new cars bought that year. As sales rise, the demand for lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper and other critical minerals used to power their batteries is skyrocketing. The use of these metals in smartphones, computers and green energy sectors is increasing global competition for critical minerals further – with an estimated 30 per cent of reserves lying in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Critical mineral-rich Africa can look after itself
With their new economic bargaining power, countries with in-demand resources are challenging colonial-era assumptions about corruption and exploitation, writes Bronwen Everill.
The World Today
Published 16 March 2026
Updated 26 May 2026 — 5 minute READ
Image — A child breaks stones that contain lithium in Nasarawa, Nigeria. Global demand for lithium is expected to more than double between 2024 and 2030. Photo: Olympia De Maismont/ AFP via Getty Images.
