Piano Mattei for Africa outlines Italy’s cooperation framework with African countries, focusing on agriculture, energy, water and infrastructure through a partnership-based approach.
What is the Mattei Plan for Africa
Mattei Plan for Africa is both a cooperation strategy and a partnership model designed to redefine Italy’s engagement with African countries. The framework is structured around six main areas of intervention.
- Education and training
- Health
- Water
- Agriculture
- Energy
- Infrastructure, both physical and digital
Each section outlines Africa’s potential, the mutual benefits of stronger cooperation with Italy, and the priority areas for initial interventions. Sustainability plays a central role throughout the document, with repeated references to ecological and energy transition, climate adaptation and resilience, for both African countries and Italy.
The partnership model draws inspiration from the approach promoted by Enrico Mattei, founder of Eni, whose agreements with several African countries were based on more balanced economic conditions and higher value retained locally. The intention is to promote cooperation based on reciprocity rather than extraction.
The strategy is structured around an initial group of pilot countries, including North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. These include Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria in the northern region, alongside Kenya, Ethiopia, Mozambique, the Republic of the Congo and Côte d’Ivoire in sub-Saharan Africa. The framework allows for a gradual extension to additional countries over time.
An annual report on the implementation of Mattei Plan interventions is envisaged as part of the governance structure.
Pilot projects included in the framework
The document dedicates a specific section to pilot projects, which mainly support initiatives already underway and considered consistent with the objectives of Mattei Plan.
In Algeria, the framework references support for a desert agriculture project developed by the Italian company Bonifiche Ferraresi, with the backing of SIMEST, in the south-eastern Algerian Sahara. The project focuses on cultivating wheat, cereals and oilseeds. The same company is involved in the pilot project referenced for Egypt, which concentrates on the transfer of agricultural technologies for the production of wheat, soy, maize and sunflower.
Agriculture is also central to the pilot initiative cited for Mozambique, which involves the creation of an agri-food centre inspired by the Italian model in the north-west of the country, with the stated aim of strengthening competitiveness and resilience in the agri-food sector.
For Tunisia, the Mattei Plan framework encompasses the ELMED subsea electricity interconnection with Italy, as well as a proposed hydrogen transport infrastructure linking Tunisia and, in perspective, Algeria to Europe through the SoutH2 Corridor. This project builds on existing gas pipelines between Algeria, Tunisia and Italy. Although described as hydrogen-ready, these infrastructures are expected to transport predominantly fossil gas in the absence of significant renewable hydrogen production in the region.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the framework incorporates an Eni initiative aimed at improving access to water. In Kenya, it fully integrates the company’s projects related to biofuels.
Funding for Italy’s Africa strategy
Mattei Plan for Africa does not provide a detailed list of individual projects. Instead, it defines the strategic framework within which projects can be developed and financed. The total financial envelope identified for the strategy amounts to €5.5 billion.
This approach is explicitly linked to the partnership-based model, with projects intended to be defined jointly with the countries involved, rather than imposed externally.
The main financial resources identified include the Italian Climate Fund, which is the primary funding channel for Mattei Plan, with 70 percent of its resources allocated to Africa. Eligible interventions include initiatives in green hydrogen, renewable energy, agricultural adaptation to climate change, biodiversity restoration and the sustainable use of natural resources. The fund contributes a total of €3 billion. Development cooperation funds provide the remaining €2.5 billion.
The document then points to additional potential resources coming from:
- Official Development Assistance allocated to Africa, including sovereign concessional credit lines financed through the Rotating Fund for Development Cooperation at the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) and managed by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP).
- International Financial Institutions and Multilateral Development Banks.
- The Global Gateway Africa-Europe initiative of the EU, alongside other European programmes such as Connecting Europe Facility and Horizon Europe.
- Co-financing from other countries, with the document noting that some Gulf countries have already expressed interest.
- Debt conversion operations, through so-called “debt for development swaps”.
The document then examines in detail the priorities identified along the most relevant strategic pillars from a transformation perspective, namely agriculture, energy, and water.
Agriculture as a priority area
Agriculture is the only sector where concrete initiatives are clearly associated with the Mattei Plan framework. The document explicitly highlights the valorisation of the coffee value chain, an element also referenced in international climate and development discussions involving Italy.
The so-called Mattei method in agriculture is based on two pillars, rural development and food security. The stated objectives are to strengthen the growth and sustainability of agri-food value chains and to promote local business models developed in partnership with Italian companies, which bring advanced technologies and efficient production processes.
In practical terms, this approach focuses on intensifying partnerships and technology transfer in the agri-food sector, with the ambition of moving African agriculture beyond subsistence towards market access. This is presented as a way to improve incomes, reduce malnutrition and ease tensions linked to competition over resources, while also integrating African value chains with Italian ones.
The framework also refers to training programmes incorporating environmental and energy sustainability, alongside initiatives related to aquaculture, fisheries, and integrated management of marine and coastal resources.
Assisted evolution techniques and new GMOs
Within the agriculture section, the document also refers to Assisted Evolution Techniques, including new genetically modified organisms. Mattei Plan states an intention to launch projects in collaboration with Italian operators, research centres and universities, providing services such as precision agriculture and the application of these new techniques.
The arguments put forward mirror those repeatedly cited to justify the development of new GMOs in Italy: increasing the resilience of certain crops, reducing resource waste, and providing a solution for adapting to the climate crisis.
However, given the difficulties in gaining regulatory approval for New Genomic Techniques in Italy and across Europe, an alternative reading of the Mattei Plan suggests that the initiative could also be seen as a way to use African countries as testing grounds, helping to kick-start the production of genetically modified crops developed using the CRISPR-Cas9 technique.
Energy priorities and contradictions
In the chapter on energy, all the contradictions of the Mattei Plan‘s so-called “partnership of equals” come sharply into focus. The preamble highlights Africa’s abundance of natural, sustainable and renewable resources, starting with the vast potential of solar, wind and hydropower, as well as the strong growth expected in electricity demand across the continent in the coming decades.
Yet the core of the Plan’s energy proposal is not centred on renewables, but on fossil gas. Clean energy is relegated to the final part of the chapter, and its development is made conditional on the implementation of “market reforms” deemed necessary to facilitate investment.
Fossil gas at the centre of Mattei Plan
The document frames gas as a transitional fuel, describing it as a bridge in Africa’s energy transition. Gas is presented as less carbon-intensive than other fossil fuels, suitable for replacing coal, complementary to renewable growth and capable of addressing intermittency and grid constraints.
This narrative is contested by the continent’s energy realities. Most African countries do not rely heavily on coal, with South Africa accounting for the vast majority of coal-based electricity generation in Africa. Portraying gas as a primary decarbonisation solution risks oversimplifying the continent’s energy landscape.
While countries with fossil gas resources often also have strong renewable potential, investment capacity remains limited. Expanding gas infrastructure can divert capital away from solar and wind. Moreover, gas infrastructure is often underdeveloped or absent, particularly in rural areas.
If the objective, as stated in the Mattei Plan, is also to increase access to electricity, with 600 million Africans currently without it, then the real issue is developing electricity grids or investing in mini-grids. Expanding gas-fired power plants near industrial hubs or densely populated areas will not benefit those 600 million people, most of whom live in rural areas.
Finally, the document specifies that the Italian Climate Fund will be the “core” instrument for investments in the energy and sustainable development sectors. As a reminder, €3 billion of the total €5.5 billion allocated to the Plan will come from this fund.
Biofuels within the strategy
Biofuels are presented as playing a key role in decarbonising heavy road transport, shipping and aviation. The document notes that biofuels, biomass and waste already account for a significant share of Africa’s energy supply, and uses this as a basis for developing biofuel value chains.
The approach mirrors existing biofuel projects led by Eni in several African countries. These initiatives are described as innovative and sustainable, based on crops that do not compete with food production and are intended to regenerate degraded or marginal land. Some of the initial financing associated with Mattei Plan is linked to biofuel-related initiatives.
Water and climate adaptation
In the water sector, Mattei Plan outlines interventions aimed at restoring or creating complex hydraulic infrastructure, managing water availability, building treatment and purification plants, monitoring water quality and strengthening technical capacity.
While no specific priorities are identified, the document places water management within the broader context of climate adaptation. Measures mentioned include covering storage basins and canals to reduce evaporation, developing digital twins of water distribution networks, and reusing treated wastewater sludge in agriculture.
Read the full text of the Mattei Plan for Africa here.
