Latest news with #carbonmarkets
Zawya
3 minutes ago
- Business
- Zawya
Africa unveils landmark integrity & equity principles and coordination platform to strengthen carbon markets
NAIROBI, Kenya -/African Media Agency (AMA)/-The African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) today announced a series of bold initiatives to elevate Africa's role in global carbon markets and ensure they deliver both climate and development benefits for the continent. The announcements were made at a high-level continental dialogue convened in collaboration with the Government of Kenya and Afreximbank. The consultation opened with statements from H.E. Dr. Deborah Mlongo Barasa, Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Republic of Kenya; Ambassador Ali Mohamed, Kenya's Special Climate Envoy; Neil Wigan OBE, British High Commissioner to Kenya; and Estherine Fotabong, Director of Programme Innovation and Planning at AUDA-NEPAD — reflecting strong political and institutional commitment to Africa's emerging leadership in carbon markets. The United Kingdom is supporting these efforts as a key technical partner to AUDA-NEPAD, including through the secondment of UK climate expert Ravi Raichoora to the agency. Throughout the consultation, AUDA-NEPAD engaged directly with senior representatives from African Union member states, including Madagascar, Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Liberia, and the DRC, who shared their experiences, challenges, and aspirations in navigating carbon markets. Member States emphasised the vital role AUDA-NEPAD can play — leveraging its continental mandate to promote greater cohesion, alignment, and technical support across the region. In parallel, perspectives from global standard-setters such as the VCMI and ICVCM, rating agencies like BeZero, and leading project developers offered valuable insights into how African priorities can be better reflected in global frameworks. At the event, AUDA-NEPAD unveiled three major outcomes designed to advance Africa's carbon market ambitions: The African Integrity & Equity Principles for Carbon Markets — a pioneering framework articulating Africa's vision for high-integrity, socially inclusive carbon markets. These principles, which will be shaped through broad stakeholder engagement, place social value at the core of market participation. A draft will be presented for formal consultation at the Africa Climate Summit 2 in Addis Ababa (9–12 September). A Continental Coordinating Mechanism — comprising technical experts and focal points from across the 55 AU Member States and regional carbon market alliances. This mechanism will reduce fragmentation, promote shared priorities, and strengthen Africa's collective voice in global carbon market negotiations, thereby fostering a more coherent, transparent, and investable environment. A Digital Tracking Platform for Article 6 Readiness — currently under development, this tool will offer real-time insights into country-level progress. It will enable governments, the private sector, and development partners to identify opportunities, monitor implementation, and direct capacity-building support where most needed. In addition, the platform will support the development of a continent-wide glossary of carbon market terminology, enhancing consistency and alignment with international best practices. The event also featured strong engagement from the private sector, including project developers, advisory firms, and rating agencies. Private actors and Member State representatives alike welcomed these three key outcomes as critical enablers to unlock Africa's carbon potential. Tijani Nwadei, Partner and Co-founder of Visuias Limited, a carbon markets advisory firm, underlined the importance of AUDA-NEPAD's coordinating role in catalysing participation, enabling benefit-sharing, and supporting the actualisation of a market that places Africa at the forefront of global supply. Andrew Ocama, Coordinator for the Eastern Africa Alliance on Carbon Markets and Climate Finance, welcomed AUDA-NEPAD taking on a leading coordination role for carbon markets across the continent, emphasising that such leadership is essential to prevent fragmentation and ensure coherent regional implementation. El-hadj Mbaye, Africa's lead negotiator for Article 6, called on Member States to take an active role in understanding and engaging in carbon markets, stressing that Africa must shape the future of carbon finance — not simply participate in it. Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) on behalf of AUDA-NEPAD
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
JPMorgan Just Sparked a $210M Green Finance Revolution--Here's What It Means for Carbon Markets
JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) has just structured something that could change how carbon markets get fundedstarting with a $210 million loan for Chestnut Carbon. In a deal that applies traditional project finance to a carbon-credit developer for the first time in the U.S., Chestnut will use the funds to deliver long-term nature-based carbon removal credits to Microsoft under a 25-year contract. The forestry projects in Arkansas and Texas have already seen over 17 million trees planted since 2022. JPMorgan, joined by a group of smaller lenders, is betting that this modelnon-recourse and cash-flow-backedcould make carbon projects more bankable and draw in long-missing institutional investors. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 8 Warning Sign with JPM. The carbon credit market has long been stuck in a chicken-and-egg trap: investors want scale, but developers need capital to get there. Chestnut's CFO Greg Adams believes this debt-based structure may finally break that cycle. Instead of relying on equity or philanthropyas most projects still dothis structure could reduce the cost of capital and make room for infrastructure funds and mainstream financiers. JPMorgan's Vijnan Batchu echoed that view, saying giving developers runway at a better financing cost is key to delivering meaningful impact. The hope is that this model doesn't stay a one-off. While it's still early, the move may hint at a broader shift. Nancy Pfund of DBL Partners, an investor in Chestnut, noted that while this one loan doesn't solve the market's broader capital gap, it could be a turning point. If more deals like this follow, the voluntary carbon marketoften dismissed as too small to mattermight start to look like a serious asset class. And if Chestnut's partnership with Microsoft proves scalable, carbon removal could finally gain the financial muscle it needs to grow. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
E&E News
22-07-2025
- Politics
- E&E News
Agriculture climate law hits a wall at USDA
A climate change law once hailed as a bipartisan triumph may be fading out before it's even in place. Congress enacted the Growing Climate Solutions Act in 2022 with the aim of helping farmers navigate the nation's unfolding carbon markets and cut greenhouse gas emissions on their operations. The idea was to create a network of government-certified providers to verify greenhouse gas reductions from climate-smart farm practices. Three years later, the Department of Agriculture shows few signs of implementing the law, which former President Joe Biden signed as part of a consolidated spending bill for fiscal 2023. Advertisement Outside groups that once pushed for its passage are no longer talking about the legislation publicly. An advisory council the Biden administration appointed a few weeks before leaving office has yet to receive any instructions from the new administration and hasn't met, despite a deadline to do so that passed in April.
Forbes
22-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The UK Just Created A Regulated Market For Carbon Removals
Big Ben with bridge over Thames and flag of England against blue sky in London, England, UK We're used to thinking of carbon markets as a punishment mechanism—a tax in disguise for those who pollute. But what happens when the same system starts to reward the people actively cleaning up the atmosphere? After months of consultation, the UK government has laid out a clear path: greenhouse gas removals—including engineered solutions like direct air capture (DAC) and enhanced weathering—will become part of the country's carbon market by the end of this decade. If you're in the weeds of carbon policy, this is a watershed moment. If you're not, here's why it matters: it means corporations will soon be able to buy carbon removal credits in a regulated market—and carbon removal companies will, for the first time, have a predictable, price-driven demand signal for cleaning up the atmosphere. Until now, carbon removals—like DAC, biochar, or enhanced weathering—have mostly lived in the voluntary market, propped up by early-adopter buyers like Microsoft, Stripe, and Shopify through initiatives like Frontier. But voluntary demand is tiny. Currently the global voluntary carbon market is worth just $2 billion. By contrast, the global compliance carbon market—driven by schemes like the European Union's Emissions Trading System, California's Cap-and-Trade, and now the UK Emissions Trading system (ETS)—was valued at over $800 billion. Right now, the UK ETS covers around 111 million tonnes of carbon emissions annually across the power, industrial, and aviation sectors. The average price of a UK allowance in July 2025 is around $48 per tonne. Even if just 1% of UK ETS obligations are fulfilled through removals, that's a potential $43 million market annually for removals. And here's the key: this isn't a hypothetical. The UK has committed to legislating integration by 2028, with removals entering the market by the end of 2029. That timeline is long enough to allow for standard setting and infrastructure development, but near enough to start attracting real investment now. For a sector that's often lived off philanthropic capital and early adopter corporate buyers, this is oxygen. What does this mean in practice? A few things. First, only removals that take place on UK soil will be eligible—this ensures that the benefits of investment (jobs, infrastructure, MRV capabilities) stay local. Second, removal credits will be awarded after the carbon has been verified to be sequestered, not in advance. That's important. It signals a clear move away from the 'pay-now-promise-later' dynamic that has plagued lower-integrity offset markets. Perhaps most importantly, only removals that can demonstrate carbon will be stored for at least 200 years will qualify. That threshold effectively draws a line in the sand: no reforestation credits that could reverse in a few decades. The UK is saying, if you want an allowance, your removal better last two centuries. That's a powerful signal to companies focused on permanence—those relying on mineralization, geologic storage, or stable biochar. The government has also indicated it is 'minded to differentiate' between these new removal credits and existing allowances—potentially creating a dual-credit system. In other words, a tonne of avoided emissions and a tonne of removed carbon might be priced and treated differently. That opens up the potential for two carbon markets to exist side-by-side: one punishing emitters, the other incentivizing removers. It's a nuanced idea, but if done well, it could provide flexibility while preserving environmental integrity. There will be auctions to facilitate a route to market—helping removal operators sell their credits into a structured and transparent system, rather than relying solely on opaque bilateral deals. The government will also maintain the existing 'gross cap'—that is, the total amount of allowances won't increase to accommodate removals. This ensures that carbon removals don't create space for additional emissions. It's not a license to pollute—it's a tool to neutralize emissions that can't be cut. Some of this might sound arcane, but it reflects a growing maturity in how we think about removals. Climate science is clear: reaching net zero means both cutting emissions and removing what we can't avoid. The UK is the first country to bake that second half of the equation into its compliance market architecture. This decision is also a direct boost to the UK's emerging carbon removal ecosystem. Take UNDO, a recent XPRIZE winner, which spreads finely crushed basalt on farmlands to accelerate natural weathering processes—permanently storing carbon in soils. Or Mission Zero Technologies, a direct air capture startup developing modular electrochemical systems that capture CO₂ from ambient air and store it underground. Both are UK-based, and both could now see a real, regulated path to monetizing their impact—not through donations or hype cycles, but through policy-anchored carbon demand. And this matters beyond the UK. Globally, the carbon removal sector must grow from removing tens of thousands of tonnes of CO₂ per year to billions by 2050. That means turning niche science projects into bankable infrastructure. It means shifting from tech demonstrations to projects that institutional investors, insurers, and utilities can underwrite. None of that happens without real markets—and until now, those have been missing. The UK's move is not perfect, and it won't be fast. But it's a milestone: the first major economy to say, explicitly, that carbon removal belongs in the same market as pollution—and that removing carbon deserves the same financial seriousness as cutting it.
Zawya
04-07-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Carbon Markets Africa Summit reveals packed programme featuring continent's entire carbon markets value chain
The upcoming Carbon Markets Africa Summit (CMAS) programme features the continent's entire carbon markets value chain in what is a compelling combination of successful early carbon market movers, climate-finance-ready projects, regulatory bodies as well as global institutional development organisations and investors. The event is taking place in Johannesburg from 22 to 23 October, with pre-conference sessions on 21 October. CMAS is dedicated to unlocking Africa's carbon market potential, incorporating integrity, investment and impact. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) are official supporters of the event. Shifting global landscape Day 1's opening session will focus on the continent's pivotal opportunity to define its own carbon trajectory, attract meaningful investment and align carbon market growth with the priorities of climate resilience, equity and sustainable development. Speakers already confirmed include: - Iain Banner, Chairman, South Africa - Fenella Aouane, Global Green Growth Institute, Luxembourg - Maxwell Gomera, UNDP - Javier Manzanares, Allen Manza, Panama - Caroline Tixier, EU Delegation to South Africa - Angela Churie Kallhauge, Impact, Environmental Defence Fund, USA Aligning strategy with global agendas The session on the "Road to COP30: Aligning Africa's Carbon Strategy with Global Agendas" will look compare Africa's carbon strategy with global frameworks such as Article 6. High-level representatives from the GMEX Group, AfDBm Verra and ACMI will be part of this panel discussion. Carbon market frameworks As African countries move from climate ambition to implementation, regulatory clarity is becoming the cornerstone of carbon market development. A session titled 'Turning Policy into Action,' will explore how national frameworks are evolving post-COP29, what integration of Article 6 looks like on the ground and how public-private collaboration can drive effective execution. Strong representation from across the continent and value chain bodes for an enlightening discussion, including the UNDP, Government of Nigeria, the South African Department of Fisheries, Forestry and the Environment, Zambia's Ministry of Green Economy and Environment and Uganda Climate Change Department. The challenges with regards to integrity that carbon markets have faced will be tackled head-on during CMAS. Promethium's Principal Climate Change Advisor Olivia Tuchten will lead the panel discussion around standards, verification and market oversight with experts from Verra, Gold Standard and Anthesis. Financing Africa's carbon pipeline Day 2 of the packed CMAS programme features investor roundtables in a more intimate setting, aimed at 'Connecting Climate Capital with Scalable Carbon Solutions,' during which a select group of carbon market investors and financiers can present their funds, strategies and investment opportunities to both potential capital partners and carbon project developers. Keynote on investment Day 2's keynote session on 'Financing Africa's Carbon Pipeline: Derisking, Scaling and Innovating" will address both sides of the investment equation with participants from Shell Nature Based Solutions, Standard Bank, MIGA, AfDB and South Pole. Jonathan First, Senior Advisor at Climate Policy Initiative will also unpack the question of how to mobilise private capital for Africa's carbon markets with several financiers from TransEnergy Global, FSD Africa, the JSE and JP Morgan. Pre-conference day The CARBON 101 masterclass will provide investors, policymakers and developers with the necessary insights into the burgeoning business of carbon markets. The expert facilitators in this relatively new field will cover everything from international frameworks, African policy landscapes, credit integrity and investment fundamentals. 'Trust plays a key role' As part of CMAS 2025's mission to catalyse high-integrity, African-led carbon markets, Dominic Wilhelm, Executive Director of the Global Trust Project, will also lead a high-impact dialogue working session. 'While the current value of carbon markets as of 2023 is about $950 billion, within the next 10 years, it's going to be worth $16 trillion,' says Wilhelm. 'However, the full value chain of carbon markets is very fragmented, and it's not transparent. Therefore, the full value chain needs to rapidly come together in a high-level dialogue, in which trust plays a key role to solve some of these challenges.' VUKA Group Carbon Markets Africa Summit is organised by VUKA Group, which has more than 20 years' experience in serving the business community across Africa. Event dates and location: Dates: 21 October: Pre-summit day 22–23 October: Summit Location: Johannesburg, South Africa Distributed by APO Group on behalf of VUKA Group. Additional Information: Download the Carbon Markets Africa Summit Programme Brochure here: Contact details for Carbon Markets Africa Summit: Tailor-made partnerships: Natalie Kruger Cell: +66 (0) 65 614 8605 Email: Project Lead: Emmanuelle Nicholls Cell: +27 83 447 8410 Email: Event website:
