Building up the global carbon market in East Africa

Project description

Title: Global Carbon Market
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK)
Country: Uganda
Lead executing agency: Climate Change Department of the Uganda Ministry of Water and Environment
Overall term: 2018 to 2023

Meeting of Eastern Africa Alliance on Carbon Markets and Climate Finance

Context

Article 6 of the Paris Climate Agreement heralds a new era for global emissions trading. It offers states the possibility of transferring their CO2 reductions to other countries, which can count them towards to their own climate targets.

Although the negotiations on Article 6 have not yet been concluded, East African countries are already preparing to participate in future carbon markets. In the past, owing to a lack of institutional frameworks, African countries took little advantage of this kind of market mechanism.

Carbon markets can make an important contribution to sustainable development. This also gives countries greater access to climate financing and enables them to implement their own Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) more effectively.

Objective

Public and private decision-makers in Uganda and the East African region are using carbon market instruments for national climate protection activities.

Approach

In Uganda, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Sudan, Burundi and Kenya, the project works at the interface between carbon markets and climate financing.

It advises policy-makers in East African countries on the opportunities offered by carbon markets and carbon pricing instruments. In addition, the project provides expert and technical advice to government agencies on updating NDCs and long-term climate strategies.

The project is supporting the region in efforts to draft a joint vision for carbon mechanisms. To this end, it works together with the Eastern Africa Alliance on Carbon Markets and Climate Finance, which was founded in 2019.

In addition to this, workshops and networking meetings provide information on Article 6 and market-based approaches in the region.

Last update: September 2021

Additional information