*Engaging Africa in the Global Carbon Markets
14 June 2014, Windhoek – The sixth Africa Carbon Forum will take place in Windhoek, Republic of Namibia, on July 2-4 2014 to support Africa’s participation in global carbon markets and catalyze green investment opportunities.
This year’s forum is an opportunity for participants to learn about the present state and future of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), carbon markets in general, sources of climate finance, international climate change negotiations, and examples of low-carbon development strategies.
“Despite the current lull in the carbon market, steady improvements in the CDM and the possibility of new sources of demand will keep an interested core of stakeholders engaged in the market,” said Hugh Sealy, the chair of the CDM Executive Board. “Now is the time for African nations to look for opportunities in the CDM, in particular via a programmatic approach, which opens the door to a great number of smaller projects.”
The forum is jointly organized by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) along with the UNEP Risoe Centre (URC), the World Bank (WB), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA).
Mr. Gilbert Mbesherubusa, Vice-President, Infrastructure, Private Sector and Regional Integration, African Development Bank said, “This year’s Africa Carbon Forum provides an excellent opportunity to review progress on climate change mitigation in Africa including an assessment of both the challenges and opportunities for mobilising climate finance. We understand the important role the private sector has to play in this area and, to this end, along with development partners, have strengthened our Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) and created the Africa Renewable Energy Fund (AREF); to promote private sector investments in small to medium size renewable energy and energy efficiency projects”.
Participants will learn from experts in the public and private sectors about the developments around Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs), Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+), New Market Mechanisms (NMMs) and the Framework for Various Approaches (FVA).
Emphasis will also be placed on the programmatic approach, i.e. the Programme of Activities (PoAs), which is particularly suited to small or micro-scale projects that are common in Africa. Under PoAs, similar projects can be integrated under one ‘programme umbrella’ reducing transaction costs and making the mechanism more attractive and accessible to least developed countries. Of the 252 PoAs registered globally, an impressive 78 are in Africa, representing more than 30 per cent of existing PoAs.
The Africa Carbon Forum 2014 builds on the success of last year’s forum in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, which brought together more than 700 policy-makers, project developers and investors from five continents. It provided an opportunity to exchange views, share knowledge and learn more about the latest international and national policies and operational issues related to carbon markets.
The forum is organized under the umbrella of the Nairobi Framework, which was launched in 2006 by then Secretary-General Kofi Annan with the aim to assist developing countries, especially those in sub-Sahara Africa, to improve their level of participation in the CDM.
