New Africa carbon markets initiative launched at COP27

A NEW initiative to expand Africa’s participation in voluntary carbon markets was launched at the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change being held in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-sheikh yesterday

Led by a 13-member steering committee of African leaders, CEOS, and carbon credit experts, the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI) was launched to support the growth of carbon credits production, create jobs and protect biodiversity in Africa, according to a press release by the initiative.

ACMI announced a bold ambition for the continent to reach 300 million credits offered annually by 2030.

This level of supplies would unlock $6 billion (about R106bn) in income and support 30 million jobs, it added.

By 2050, the statement said, ACMI is targeting over 1.5 billion credits annually in Africa, leveraging over $120bn and supporting over 110 million jobs.

A number of African nations, including Kenya, Malawi, Gabon, Nigeria and Togo, shared their commitments to collaborating with ACMI to scale up carbon credit production via voluntary carbon market activation plans.

Gates Foundation

Meanwhile, the world’s development banks need to prioritise helping poorer countries adapt to the impacts of climate change, the chief executive of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation told Reuters.

Speaking on the sidelines of the COP27 climate talks, Mark Suzman said while investment in so-called “adaptation finance” had increased, it was still “far short of what is needed”.

Adaptation is set to be a central theme of the conference this week.

The foundation on Monday pledged $1bn to help smallholder farmers become more resilient, its biggest contribution to adaptation so far.

The world’s biggest multilateral development banks spent $17bn on adaptation finance for poorer countries in 2021, a recent report by the lenders showed.

Yet as a global energy and food security crunch in the wake of conflict in Ukraine compounds the worsening impacts of climate change, multilateral development banks (MDBS) such as the World Bank – collectively the biggest providers of cheap finance for low and middle income countries – needed to do more, Suzman said.

“That connection between food security and climate adaptation is so clear, no one can contest it, and so what are going to be the action plans and resources to now turn that into real implementation?” he asked.

His comments come as political leaders including US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called for a fundamental restructuring of how MDBS invest, given the need for quicker action on climate.

Island nations

Meanwhile, a group of small island nations joined calls for a windfall tax on oil companies to compensate developing countries for the damage caused by climate change-induced natural disasters.

Developing nations have pressed their case at the UN’S COP27 climate summit for the creation of a “loss and damage” fund, arguing that rich nations are to blame for the biggest share of greenhouse gas emissions.

Oil companies have scored tens of billions of dollars in profits this year as crude prices have soared in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“It is about time that these companies are made to pay a global COP carbon tax on these profits as a source of funding for loss and damage,” the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne, told fellow leaders at the summit. |