The African Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI) announces its ambition to reach 300 million carbon credits produced annually by 2030.
The development of the market
The ACMI, on the occasion of the COP 27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, declares its intention to develop the African carbon market. ACMI is a group of 13 African leaders, CEOs and carbon credit experts. The group wants to reach an annual production of 300 million credits by 2030.
This would unlock $6 billion and support 30 million jobs, according to the group. ACMI is already working with a number of carbon market players. The initiative comes during COP27 in collaboration with the Global Energy Alliance and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.
ACMI also works with global initiatives such as the Voluntary Carbon Market Integrity Council. Finally, regional carbon market platforms are also among its collaborators. The voluntary carbon market is currently in full expansion.
It will be worth just under $2 billion by 2021. This market is expected to grow to at least 15 times its size by 2030. This is due to the use of carbon offsets by companies and governments to meet net zero emissions targets.
The expected benefits
Currently, the energy transition in Africa is severely lacking in available funding. ACMI believes that the development of the carbon market in Africa will help to obtain this funding. The group therefore wishes to take advantage of Africa’s untapped potential.
To do this, it intends to rely on renewable energy projects and nature-based solutions. ACMI pays particular attention to the high integrity associated with carbon credits. Revenues will be available equitably to communities.
ACMI works with the major carbon credit buyers and financiers to achieve this. These include Exchange Trading Group, Nando’s and Standard Chartered. This collaboration aims to implement an anticipated market commitment of hundreds of millions of dollars.
The initiative is supported by several African nations including Kenya, Gabon, Nigeria and Togo. ACMI hopes that through this collaboration it will be able to develop the production of carbon credits. It is a matter of using voluntary plans to activate the carbon market.
