Exclusive interview with Heather McEwan, Regional Representative: Africa and the Middle East, Verra. Heather is a speaker at the upcoming Carbon Markets Africa Summit in Johannesburg, taking place 21–23 October.

Q: Thank you for joining us today. Let’s start with some background on you and your role at Verra.

Good morning, thanks very much for allowing me to participate. My name is Heather from Verra. Sounds like a joke, but it’s true. So I’ve been at Verra for 4.5 going on 5 years now, and what I really like is the impact that we have. I’ve changed roles through Verra over the last 5 years. I started off as the manager for South Africa, that was just after the 2019 carbon tax, then moved into Africa, and then eventually the Middle East. I’m happy in that role because I was born in Zimbabwe, so they call me the Gwelo girl. Gwelo was the little town that I was born in. And the Middle East, I lived in Kuwait for 10 years, so I have some understanding of the Middle East. My current role is assisting project developers and, most recently, governments to understand and utilise the Verra programmes and standards.

The Voluntary Carbon Standard is our flagship standard, and we also have a plastics and an SD VISta standard. On the back of the carbon standard where you get a credit for removing a ton of carbon out of the environment, you can also get a plastic credit, because it’s a very similar process. We have a methodology, and you can get plastics credits. Interestingly enough, we were in Senegal 3 weeks ago with Mandy Rambharos, our CEO who you might know, she’s South African. She actually purchased one of those little cell phone desk stands that you can put your phone on. The gentleman that made that particular recycled phone stand actually appeared in the impact video that Verra made on that particular project. So we kind of call that “total recycling” and we did have a smile about it.

The SD VISta programme allows us to measure projects against the 17 United Nations Sustainability Goals. And the United Nations Sustainability Goals were made for countries. Why is it important for projects? It’s important because someone from the Global North who sits in the ESG department and he’s (or she) is having to buy carbon credits, but he also is tasked with, for example, water, so you can go and have a look at our carbon credits and see, for example, which credits contribute to water or as another example for women’s health. Therefore, the SD VISta programme is also key for us.

So, yes, I’m very happy at Verra and in my role as it’s changed and evolved over time.

Q: Verra is a widely used voluntary carbon market standard. There have been challenges in this sector regarding transparency and fairness. Would you say we have turned a corner?

Yes, there have been challenges. And based on these challenges of transparency and fairness, I would say absolutely we’ve turned the corner. And I think we’ve turned the corner forever. So before I explain this, and my reasoning for saying that with such strength and belief behind it, we need to note there are always good actors and bad actors in a market. Unfortunately, the carbon market is exactly the same- with good and bad actors. What we need to do is manage the negative perceptions that are out there. And unfortunately, that’s like trying to nail jelly to a ceiling. So we need to start talking about positive narratives and the positive impact that we do have.

Going back to the question, I think that there are a couple of things that have been done regarding transparency and fairness, both internally within Verra and externally in the industry and market itself. So internally within Verra, we have done a number of things. We have digitised the process. So if you submit a document, for example, initially, we’d have to get all the documents and we do an accuracy and a review check and that would take 10 days.

Now we have a project hub. You submit your documents automatically. It does the calculations for you because it has a carbon calculator inside of it. So therefore, we can assess and process those projects very quickly so that 10 days is lost in terms of the cycle because it’s now an automatic process. So in terms of digitisation, we are processing documents much quicker through the project hub. And Justin Wheler, who’s our director of the programme management team, tells me that 95% of our SLAs are being met.

SLAs are the service level agreements. The service level agreement says for example that we will take 10 days to do an accuracy review, 20 days to do a registration review, a validation or looking at a monitoring report. The 5% that we’re not achieving are the more complicated kind of projects that we have. So that’s very positive, and there’s a risk-based approach that they are using in that project cycle.

I think the most exciting thing for me is that Verra has teamed up with the Hedera Foundation. This was announced in Senegal where they had digitised not only the submission of projects and the methodologies, but also the collection of data. In the field, what we will do is we will accelerate the transparency, auditability and integrity of the methodologies. So in Senegal, we literally went into a mangrove where there was a signpost that had a QR code on it, and the community could scan the QR code on their phone.

What would happen is that they would then submit the data; and the data could be that they’ve done for example a salinity test in their 25 by 25 meter quadrant. They could then submit the height of those plants, the little mangrove plants that have grown there, and how many had survived for mortality rates. And that information can come live back into our project hub, which means that in theory, issuances could happen quicker. So a lot of work has been done on our side to improve transparency, to approve accountability, fairness and to involve communities.

That said, I also said that the industry is changing, and the industry itself has, for example, bodies like the ICVCM. They have developed core carbon principles and all the standards have to apply to them to be able to apply their core carbon principles to add integrity to our credits. We also have the VCMI, which is looking at the buyer side and assisting buyers in looking at projects and what they can do and announce with their credits. Then we have the ratings agencies as well. So the ratings agencies, for example, rate a project A, AA, B, BB, C, which is something the financial world understands. This allows buyers to be able to know what the integrity is and to kind of look at the transparency and fairness involved in that project. So, I think a lot of work has been done. In summary, we’ve turned the corner, and we’re looking for positive buy signals now on the demand side.

Q: Please tell us more about the Verra verifications and the different methodologies used?

Talking about various verifications and the different methodologies, very simply, I think if people are familiar with ISO standards, so in ISO standards you had ISO 9000, which was a quality standard, you had ISO 14000, which is the environmental standards, and then more recently the 18000 and 50000, which are the energy standards. Verra is no different in that we have created a standard document, it’s short, like the ISO standards are that you have to pay thousands of rands for. And it basically is a guidance document.

So it says in there, for example, thou shalt have a management system in place. Thou shalt allocate a management representative. You shall do regular audits. The Verra standard is no different to that. It is based on ISO principles. And the standard document will explain to you and set out the principles that you should follow for your particular carbon project that you are setting up.

How does it link to methodologies? Underneath the standards document are methodologies, and the methodologies are the recipe almost for how you do those greenhouse gas calculations. And I’ll give you a very simple example. We all as housewives and people in our homes send rubbish out on a Monday morning, whatever day your rubbish is collected, and it goes to a municipal tip. The municipal tip basically generates methane and methane goes into the atmosphere. Methane is not a great greenhouse gas for us to be accounting for. So how do you deal with that? Municipalities would, for example, put a lid over that tip or that waste site. But remember, that’s like a pressure cooker; so if you’ve got the methane developing underneath and that exploded, there would obviously be a problem.

So you may have to have a pipe which allows some of the methane to flow to a collection point and you maybe would flare some of that methane. Then you would have a burning or flare rate. At the same time, you might have pipes underneath that particular cap and they would be sucking the methane to the side of the plant. So there’s a flow rate through those pipes. At the plant, you might be using Eskom power, which is not great in terms of its greenhouse gas emissions, so there are kilowatt hours used where you are converting that methane into another form of energy.

Assume that energy was then distributed via trucks from that site to another source, you’ve got kilometers driven. So the methodology is basically the recipe that we use to calculate the greenhouse gas emissions. And in this case, it consists of a flare rate, a flow rate, kilometers driven and kilowatt hours. And that recipe is no secret, anybody could do that. But the inputs and the numbers that you use vary from Durban to Cape Town to Johannesburg or even to Gqeberha where I live. So that’s what we mean by the methodologies. Verra has a number of methodologies. We have maybe 50 methodologies and a higher number of methodologies that are coming into Verra to be assessed and approved, which I think is a healthy sign for the market.

So that’s really how the verification programme works in terms of the standard and the methodologies. A project would be based on the methodology, submit their documentation, and then we would assess that using a third party auditor so that we know that actually what they’re proposing on the ground actually happens on the ground and it is validated. In other words, we check the predictions going forward into the future, and then we would go to site to go and check that that actually happened called verification and then issue the credits accordingly on our registry. So it’s a complex process. It can take 2–3 years. It can take six months, depending on what the project is. But I’m happy to help anyone if they have any questions on that.

Q: You are working in a system that is constantly evolving and changing. There must be pros and cons to that.

Yes, working in a constantly evolving and changing system. All I say is, thank goodness we’re constantly evolving, and we’re still not selling horse whips. Remember that old business school model teachings where Henry Ford was selling the horseless carriage and people selling horse whips were kind of going to go out of business? So I think it’s a good thing that there’s change. That said, I do remember at school reading a book, I can even remember it was orange, by Alvin Toffler called Change. In that book, what he said was that change is normal. It’s the rate of change that we need to deal with. So even in the last 2 weeks, I think we have seen that. A friend of mine was in London, and he was thinking about whether he could fly back to the Middle East. But overnight, there could be a ceasefire or not. Flights were cancelled. Flights were open again. So our world changes really, really rapidly these days.

In terms of a constantly evolving and changing system, I use the analogy of a system of cogs. I am a mom, but when my twin girls were younger, we had an early learning toy that consisted of eight cogs, and each is fridge magnet and was stuck on the fridge that the kids could play with it. But the main cog had a battery in it and it drove the system. So it would go around in an anti-clockwise direction. The cog you connected to that would then go in a clockwise direction. And it made a whole lot of different patterns for want of a better word.

So in a changing carbon world, using that analogy, we have all the cogs that we need this time around. We have the Paris Agreement. We have 196 countries that have agreed. We have the Article 6 playbook, which was issued in Baku. We have African countries issuing policies. We have affluent governments who understand the previous mechanism, which was the Clean Development Mechanism, the CDM, and how that worked and how you could get carbon credits. We have international standards, ratings agencies and insurance companies involved. So what I’m saying is, this time around, yes, there’s change. Change is normal. The rate of change is quick. But this time around, I do think we have all the cogs and we just need to put those cogs together so that we can connect them and make this market work.

Q: What are your favourite success stories that you can share of carbon credit swapping and selling?

My favourite stories; I love this. I think in terms of swapping and selling, I don’t have any stories. But I think in terms of impact, I’ve got a couple of stories. There was a project developer once who told me that she asked a lady who was involved in a project similar to cook stoves, it was an energy efficiency cooking device, what made her happy about that particular project? On a cook stove project, it’s not unusual to hear that the lady is happy with the cook stove, because she’s got a job, she can afford school fees, because she’s not out collecting wood so frequently, because she has money coming in, she can buy school shoes for her children who walk barefoot to school in the winter. But this particular story, my heart still kind of softens when I hear it, is that this lady liked this particular project, because she said I can now cook with dignity. In other words, she could cook standing up and not bending over a fire.

So there are some examples where the benefits of these projects are hard to measure, but we know that the benefits that accrue to the ground. I told this story to our staff in 2021 in Washington, and I had all the ladies on the team in tears. And that particular project also has an app so they can geolocate every single device that’s distributed into the field. And this is actually a South African project, which is awesome. The nice thing about using that app is that they use it to share recipes and they’ll also use it for general health safety advice and tips. I think there are a lot of additional benefits to these projects that accrue to the ground. And that’s what kind of keeps me working in this field, seeing what people can actually achieve.

The second story I have is about solar water pumps. There’s a project in Kenya that I visited a couple of weeks ago. Basically, there are a couple of pumps that people can buy. You could put the pump down into the river or into a borehole and draw water out of it. You get a certain pump, depending on how much money you’re prepared to spend, certain lengths of pipe, depending on the head that you need to draw against.

And this particular gentleman got involved in the project and he’s a very clever MBA guy. So he’s involved in finding the funding and doing the carbon side of it. He said to me, what hooked him on the project was that he went to go and see a gentleman on site. And this gentleman said that as a result of having the pump, he now has six growing seasons in a year as opposed to one, which is guaranteed vs waiting for rain, allowing perhaps one and a half a growing season’s because the rain wasn’t so great. And as a result of having six growing seasons, he now has enough income to put his son through university. He said to the gentleman: “My son will become an educated man and I wasn’t.” So those are the kind of impact stories from these carbon credit projects that need to be told, that are told through our impact stories and that’s what makes me go to my desk every day.

Q: How is Africa doing in terms of making the most of its natural resources and obtaining VCM finance for development?

As soon as I see natural resources, I convert that to carbon projects. I see lots of opportunities being taken up in the last few years and in my travels. Obviously, I alluded to the solar water project. There are a lot of cook stove projects. I think in Kenya, what I’ve seen is a direct air capture project, which you might think is unusual because it’s these large containers that they put down that literally suck carbon out of the atmosphere. And you sort of assume that that’s for the Global North. But it requires a lot of energy to be able to suck that atmosphere in. And in Kenya, we’re sitting on the Rift Valley where we have geothermal energy, which is cheap. So I’ve seen certain companies start to put down their containers and negotiate with communities to start to do this. And this is just making use of natural resources in Africa, which I think is fantastic.

Here in South Africa, we’ve got agricultural projects. At a dairy just outside Gqeberha, the dairy farmers had data which they were using in their track and trace system, and they were able to use that to claim carbon credits, and they’re now expanding that into different sectors like the wheat and the maize sectors. There’s also grassland management, and then of course in South Africa we have a few spekboom projects coming along and then biochar has just popped its head up in the last couple of months.

I think the other opportunities in Africa are that they are all distributed, so it’s not going to be one large industrial project where we’re saving a gazillion, or million tons of carbon. It might be that it’s a whole lot of little projects. So for example, what I see in my travels in East Africa and West Africa is e-bikes, and these have started to penetrate in Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya. In Kenya, they call them boda-bodas. And so what happens is a person drives a little e-bike. They are expensive initially, but the carbon finance assists. Instead of putting fuel in it, which is obviously not good for the environment, they can then go and swap a battery. In South Africa, we swap a gas bottle, but maybe you could swap a solar charged battery. And as long as that battery is charged through renewable energy, then one could claim the carbon credits for that. And instead of using, I’ve read numbers of $11 a day being spent on fuel, it would maybe only charge them $3 or $4 a day to swap the battery. So there’s a saving there for those particular communities. But this is, again, using solar resources in Africa. So I think Africa is using its natural resources, and we just need to continue to scale to drive that carbon finance to those particular projects.

Q: Which countries on the continent are doing the right things to prepare for carbon markets?

I think it would be remiss of me to mention or point out one or two countries. I travel a lot. I’ve recently been to the East African Carbon Alliance meeting, the West African Carbon Alliance meeting. And I see a lot of policies and frameworks that are being developed presently. However, they are all at different levels: One country could be really well advanced in its policy, and another is still trying to kind of figure out the nuts and bolts of it. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I think that makes an unfair comparison for countries.

I think what’s more important is that we look at what countries are doing to encourage project developers to come into their country to build those carbon projects, either in the voluntary space or the compliance space. I think what’s important is that countries, in terms of doing the right things, don’t need to charge exorbitant prices just to list the project with the government. That information is available on the registries. Don’t withhold letters of approval, because you need a letter of approval in order to make your credits fungible to be used in the Paris Agreement. Don’t charge super high fees for corresponding adjustments, because they need to submit that to account for the impact that the project had on the ground. If they’ve sold those credits, Governments need to add it on to the carbon footprint as a country.

I think the countries need to start to make a legally sound environment. They need to be very clear in terms of their policy, what projects are acceptable in their country and what projects are not acceptable. And I think that, as I said once again, to name one or two countries at this stage would not be fair, but there is definitely movement in the right direction.

Q: What is your vision for what carbon markets can mean for the continent?

So my vision for carbon markets this time around is that African leaders and African countries don’t miss the boat, literally. So in the Clean Development Mechanism, which was under the Kyoto Protocol before, only a couple of projects were registered, and African countries were a little left behind. I think I saw something like 3,500 wind projects in China. So they capitalised on that particular opportunity. This time around, Africa, I think, needs to catch up a little bit. That said, I’m seeing a lot of movement in governments and discussions.

So as I said, I was recently at the West African Carbon Alliance and the East African Carbon Alliance, and countries will literally send delegations from one country to another to learn from each other, to learn how they are creating their policies, how they are addressing Article 6, how they are addressing their nationally determined indicators and contributions and how they can best capitalise on this market going forward. I think that that’s really exciting to see this genuine interest, this genuine attempt to scale up these markets and a lot more policies coming out. My vision would be that we have lots of projects on the continent because also there’s a lot of those social benefits that get attached to that. So the SD VIsta project, as I said, you can label your project with that. There’s a lot of benefits that accrue to the ground and to communities, which people are looking for when they buy a credit these days.

Q: Anything you would like to add.

The last thing I’d like to add is that carbon markets are not perfect. Obviously, there’s always a criticism of them. It’s the best tool we have right now. I do see a lot of impact as a result of the work that we do at a community level. And communities are definitely involved, collecting data and want to be a part of these projects and processes. Therefore, they take time because you’re trying to involve communities as well as take into account legislation and get the project process approved. So I think it’s really important that we don’t diss the market so much it fails and there is a bad actor somewhere. The most important thing now is that we need scale. We need scale to make these projects work faster and involve the communities so that we can reduce carbon dioxide. For me, I’m a mother, and I want to make sure that I leave the world in a better place for my twins.

AGES interview at Enlit Africa with:  Brigette Nagel, Carbon Project Developer, Anthesis South Africa. Brigette was also a panellist in the Carbon Credits Roundtable at Enlit Africa in May 2025.

Q: Tell us about the background about you, the company Anthesis, and what do you do.

So I’d like to start with my own background. Initially, I started off my career as a chemical engineer working in the mining sector and mining consultancy space, and it was very exciting, lots of great exposure and wonderful opportunities. But soon I started to deal with this inner turmoil, and I realised that I wanted to do something that specifically focuses on improving the planet.

So a few years in I quit my job, and I started to work at an NGO in Zambia where we provided biodigester solutions to rural communities with solar-powered boreholes. I was just fascinated by this technology where you can deal with waste, as well as supply water and electricity, and I wanted to see it implemented more widely.

Now, one of the key challenges we faced was financial viability. The projects just couldn’t stand on their own feet. They needed grant funding. So I set off to do a master’s degree on the techno-economics of biogas, but also other renewable energy technologies in the context of developing countries like South Africa. What I discovered and one of my key findings during my research was that we really need to valorise the environmental benefits that certain technologies bring, because financially it is not always viable on its own. But if you take these environmental benefits into account, it carries great weight.

And that is where my journey with the voluntary carbon market started. And so I basically approached my current employer, Anthesis, they were not doing any renewable energy projects at the time, but they were willing to employ me nonetheless. And yes, that’s how our journey started. And today I’m proud to say that three years later, we have five large scale renewable energy projects under development and that I’m playing a very active role in developing those projects.

Q: Tell us about your successes, you’ve had an agricultural success story recently, and then more specifically your, your energy projects.

I would like to first just say a little bit more about Anthesis. As a company, we started out about 12 years ago in South Africa. We were a branch of a Dutch company called Climate Neutral Group. Initially, we only focused on all things carbon, from carbon footprinting to carbon tax and then also to carbon offsets. But three years ago, we were acquired by the British company Anthesis, and we have now grown to be the largest or one of the largest sustainability consultants in the world.

We have a presence in about 23 countries and we focus on a very wide range of sustainability solutions, everything from packaging to supply chains, with carbon offsets being the final cherry on top.

AgriCarbon is one of our biggest success stories. It is a programme where we provide financial benefits and a reward to farmers who choose to farm in a sustainable, regenerative way. And we’ve also been the first company in Africa to receive carbon credit issuance under this methodology. So it’s very exciting to us. On the renewable energy side, we are also very proud of the Redstone concentrated solar plant, which is our first large-scale renewable energy project that we  have registered in South Africa.

This project consists of a very high, 250 metre high solar receiver tower that absorbs thermal energy from the sun and then stores this energy in the form of molten salts. The salts are then pumped into a subcritical steam turbine, and that’s how it is converted into electricity, which then feeds into the South African grid. This project can power approximately 200,000 homes, and it can also provide power when the sun’s not shining, and it can store power for up to 12 hours. So yes, we are really proud to be partnering with them.

Q: Let’s talk about the challenges of what is still a nascent sector, especially the carbon markets sector.

I think one of the biggest challenges in the carbon market is that it’s constantly changing. You have to really stay on top of things. One kind of technology can be eligible one day, and then the next day it’s not eligible anymore. In addition, it can be quite burdensome to get a project all the way from development to validation, registration, verification and, finally, issuance.

We do find that there is a lack of understanding in the public sector. There’s also a lack of trust in carbon credits that still needs to grow. I think that’s one of the great things about working for a company like Anthesis where we supply this wide range of services. Our clients are already on a sustainability journey, doing lots of different things. And if you see carbon credits from that perspective, it’s not a standalone solution but rather ,it’s one piece of a puzzle, then it really is a wonderful and powerful tool.

Q:How do you see VCMs changing the energy sector on the continent?

I feel that especially renewable energy, amongst other technologies, has the potential to really have a great impact on our climate and our planet. However, it needs to be at sufficient scale and carbon credits have the potential to provide the momentum that those technologies need to reach the exponential growth to really have an impact.

Q: What do you think is the biggest misconception about carbon markets and carbon credits?

I think one of the biggest misconceptions is that people see it as a standalone measure, an industry where money is just thrown at someone doing something somewhere else and you don’t have to worry about it, and then you make these claims. There’s also been widespread propaganda about greenwashing and so on, but the carbon market has really evolved a lot, including an integrity council that establishes principles for high integrity carbon credits.

Q: Is there anything you’d like to add that we haven’t touched on?

I think from my side, I’d like to encourage people to really read up a bit more about carbon markets and expand their knowledge about it. Also, if you do have a project that you feel is quite interesting that has an environmental benefit and you’re wondering whether there’s carbon credit potential, reach out to us. Or if you are a corporate and you want to embark on a sustainability journey and you’re not sure where to start, reach out to us.

Exclusive interview with Alvaro Tangocci, Technical Consultant, Ergofito, a leading company in the environmental remediation and agricultural bio-technology sectors.

Q: Thank you for joining us today. Tell us a bit about your background and your current role at Ergofito.

My name is Alvaro Tangocci, I have run the scientific aspects of Ergofito for the last 23 years. As we are dealing with a totally natural product, R&D consists of understanding nature’s parameters. The work involves biology, soil science, quantum biology and a lot of respect and awe for how nature solves all problems.

Q: Would you take us through some of what the products that Ergofito manufactures that helps restore chemical imbalances in nature and how these are applied.

Ergofito consists of 43 consortia of bacteria, fungi and enzymes, all naturally extracted from soils that have never been farmed or mined. It is a friendly extraction as nature replaces it all in two hours after field collection. Such a natural mix decomposes all that is inert and organic, such as hydrocarbons in soil or water, raw sewage and effluents, to name a few.

The product is currently used in refineries, oil production fields in Ivory Coast and Congo as well as the rest of the world. Sewage plants are treated in many countries but mostly in South Africa. It is also used in agriculture where soils are depleted and where crops or plants underperform due to land abused by extensive chemical fertilisation and soil compaction.

However chemical fertilisers are vital for food production as our world is now close to nine billion people, we need increased production, hence chemical fertilisers. When used with natural bacteria, chemical fertilisation is called biological farming, which is the future for agriculture sustainability while increasing produce output. With biological fertilisation, the best of both worlds is achieved.

Q: What are some of your favourite success stories that Ergofito was involved with so far?

We have a couple of successes that are notable. The first one is the Government of Spain that requested a highly monitored proof of concept on growing cucumbers while increasing weight, reducing fertiliser by 30% and improving produce quality by a minimum of 30%. We ran the test over the full season with all goals achieved: We were awarded a prize for agricultural innovation as we set new standards in Spain. We introduced nature back to farming: The merit goes to nature.

The largest success to date is applying Ergofito for the purpose of increasing carbon sequestration in soil via photosynthesis. A four year test was set up in the Sundays River Valley on ten hectares of lemons of the cultivar Eureka. The test was done by independent soil scientist and laboratories. We averaged 100 tons of sequestered CO2 per hectare per year, which is ten times the industry standard.

Nature has captured carbon into soil via photosynthesis over a very long period. All the coal, gas and oil ever produced was done so by photosynthesis. As we entered the Industrial Revolution over two hundred years ago, we took and still take the said stored carbon and put it back in the air. It make sense to use nature again to return it back to the soil, and thus rendering soil more fertile, more resistant to plant pathogens and more resistant to climate change. Soil without carbon and microbes is called dirt.

Q: Where in Africa are you active?

At the moment, we are in Gabon, and we are active in Congo, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Mozambique, and of course South Africa and Swaziland. We have a lot of inquiries for remediation from many countries, but currently we are fully active in these countries.

Q: What kind of certifications do you have?

In South Africa we have the DAF certificate for our agricultural mixes, for the environmental mixes we have EPA in the USA as well as Food Safe Certificate SANS 1828:2017 and European Norms EN 1276:2009.

Q: This is a very new and nascent sector, what have been the challenges so far?

The main challenge in carbon sequestration is that everyone uses all types of man-made solutions, it seems that understanding photosynthesis is a challenge. Fortunately that understanding, once presented, is more and more accepted as the norm.

Q: What is your vision for what carbon markets can mean for the continent?

Africa has a massive available area able to produce carbon credits for the international market. It would be a wonderful mechanism to export an African environmental solution while improving our soils and generate serious financial incentives out of it. That is without exporting any produce. It is a known fact that industrialised countries are the largest carbon emitters, but Africa is a victim of climate change in many ways. Now we can use nature in Africa’s favour while generating billions of US dollars via carbon credits. Such wealth will change many people’s lives for the better on our continent.

Q: Anything you would like to add?

In conclusion, carbon credits are mostly based on plant mass increase or the reduction of carbon emission. Such methods work and are positive, however they are not able generate sufficient carbon credits to really make a difference. Also no one can guarantee that illegal logging will not take place, or fires or plant sickness. While, by using photosynthesis the way nature does it, we can place the capture carbon in the rhizosphere and below, safe from fires, floods, climate change or theft, in other words, truly secure. It’s a solution that would be hard to question as treated soil can be measured independently and prove permanent carbon sequestration. Trust nature.

Exclusive interview with Olivia Tuchten, Principal Climate Change Advisor, Promethium Carbon, South Africa. At the third edition of Africa’s Green Economy Summit in February, Tuchten was the co-moderator of a packed masterclass on carbon markets.

Q: Thank you for joining us today. You have a strong background in the carbon and climate change sector. Tell us a bit about your background and your current role at Promethium Carbon.

I’m Olivia Tuchten. I’m from a company called Promethium Carbon. We are a climate change advisory company. We’ve been operating in this space for over two decades now. We are primarily carbon climate change specialists and consultants. That’s all we do. That being said, our work spans across mitigation and adaptation, climate change vulnerability risk assessments and reporting for governments. I’ve been with the company for about 10 years and tend to specialise in the mitigation side of the work that we do, especially the work around carbon markets and carbon credit project development and issuance of carbon credits.

Q: Would you take us through some carbon market fundamentals please, their evolution, the challenges that followed regarding transparency and fairness. And where are we today?

Carbon markets are essentially a system that has been designed to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by assigning a monetary value to the carbon credit that is created as a result of the measure that is implemented. When I say measures, it varies, for example, you can have renewable energy measures, those types of projects which displace grid electricity that is very emissions-intensive. You can have other types of project activities like forestry projects, conservation projects that perhaps sequester or remove greenhouse gas emissions from the environment.

Typically, these types of systems and markets have operated through two mechanisms. They are generally referred to as the compliance markets and the voluntary markets. Compliance markets, we’re more and more using the term regulated markets, for example, like the South African domestic market based on our carbon tax system, which allows for the use of carbon credits to offset a corporate greenhouse gas inventory where that corporate has to pay carbon tax, and the use of carbon offsets in the system is regulated. One doesn’t have to use a carbon offset, but the rules by which you do use them is well defined in pieces of legislation.

Voluntary markets have arisen through the likes of big corporates who have recognised that there is an urgent need to decarbonise and that carbon offsets can play a vital role in this process. These types of corporates purchase carbon credits in the market to voluntarily offset their corporate greenhouse gas inventories, hence the term voluntary markets.

Q: You are working in a system that is constantly evolving and changing. What are the main challenges in your view?

The system that we are working in is evolving rapidly. One can say that the carbon markets were born out of the Kyoto Protocol, which was a UN mechanism that was implemented in the late 1990s and we’ve come a long way since then. As you will be aware we now have the Paris Agreement, which is the new UN mechanism, a new global mechanism whereby countries that have ratified and joined the Paris Agreement recognise that there is an urgent need to decarbonise because climate change is a man-made phenomenon and we have a responsibility to correct the imbalance that we as a human society have created.

The Paris Agreement has really spurred new rules to enhance market integrity. And it is really said to be the precedent in terms of carbon markets. That being said, it has taken a very long time to get to where it is now, which is almost ready to be implemented. We’re on the verge of the Paris Agreement carbon markets or international markets.

In the interim, private sector has realised that there is this urgent need to decarbonise, as I said previously, and they’ve taken matters into their own hands, if you like. And they have spurred the development of these voluntary carbon markets where carbon credits are used to offset greenhouse gas inventories of these corporates on a very voluntary basis.

Because there’s been such a rapid evolution, in terms of the carbon markets, there are certain challenges that have come up and certain criticisms and issues. For example, there are concerns raised about the integrity of carbon markets and there are various measures underway to address these types of challenges. You see that there are market players like the ICVCM, the Integrity Council for Voluntary Carbon Markets, that has come out as a champion sector or entity to establish core principles to ensure the integrity of carbon credits. There are amazing technological developments, AI, blockchain, other technology innovations in the likes of decarbonising whole systems. Those are very exciting, and really there is a growth in this market that we can see happening as a result of the drivers from the Paris Agreement, drivers at country levels, drivers from corporate citizens and ordinary citizens like you and me really spurring the development of these markets.

Q: What are some of your favourite success stories of carbon credit swaps on the continent?

Some of the success stories across the continent for me are the types of initiatives that address development needs as well as mitigating greenhouse gas emissions or removing greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere.

There is really amazing work being done in the renewable energy space. For example, these types of projects not only mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, but they tick a development agenda, which is to provide increased access to electricity that’s clean, that’s affordable. These are huge development agendas. In addition, there are projects that are addressing waste and sanitation needs in very innovative ways, whether it’s the use of alternative waste treatment techniques like black soldier fly larvae. These are incredible success stories. In addition, I think I must mention the huge potential for increased carbon sequestration on the continent. And that’s in the form of large forestry types of projects, large conservation types of projects as well. So they’re super exciting projects that are worth following.

Q: In your view, how is Africa positioned to take advantage of this burgeoning opportunity?

Africa is largely well prepared to take advantage of the opportunities from a number of positions. First, we have abundant natural resources that can be the basis of these carbon credit projects. For example, we have vast forests and an abundance of sunshine and wind, and these make really good drivers for the development of carbon projects and carbon markets on the continent. I think you will know that the ACMI, the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative, which was launched recently, recognises the potential on the African continent and the aim of ACMI is to scale voluntary carbon markets significantly.

There are obviously some challenges in this regarding transparency issues around the development of these types of projects around the monitoring, the reporting, the methodologies that are used. And there are instances of market failures, whether they are through negligence or through forward greenwashing, double counting. Those are types of examples that that really is an issue that needs to be addressed in the market.

Some other issues relate to typically low carbon credit prices for these types of project initiatives. And that certainly needs to be addressed because these projects need to be sustainable in the long term and we need fair carbon prices to make that happen.

Q: Which countries on the continent are doing the right things to prepare for carbon markets? What more needs to be done?

We have a number of early movers, rock stars, superstars on the continent who are really paving the way for the development of international carbon markets. For example, Ghana is one of the very first early movers. They have developed a very innovative approach to formalising mainstreaming carbon markets within their economy. Kenya is an enormously important regional hub. That’s where ACMI is located. The Kenyans historically have a large amount of carbon credit projects that have been registered with well-recognised carbon programmes. So, they have a huge wealth of experience and capacity to develop these types of projects. East African countries, West African countries, they have alliances, which are proving incredibly beneficial in sharing information and knowledge. Regional cooperation in that regard is absolutely key to developing carbon markets on the continent.

South Africa, obviously, is also a leader on the continent in terms of carbon markets. As you may be aware, we have a carbon tax system which provides for the use of a limited amount of carbon credits to offset taxpaying entities carbon tax liabilities. And that’s been a huge success and is expected to grow well into the future.

There are obviously the areas for improvement. We need better policy and regulatory frameworks that enable these types of project activities. We need transparency on governance regarding how these projects are managed from a private sector level and a public sector. And obviously there does need to be capacity building on the continent, which is very important.

Q: At the third AGES in February, you co-moderated a masterclass on carbon markets with another expert. The room was packed, and it was a great success. What were your main take-aways in terms of audience questions and views?

There was a very positive outcome from the carbon markets masterclass that was held at AGES. Really what we got was there was a strong enthusiasm for carbon markets. There were a large number of attendees and I think that just demonstrates the interest in this potential tool that can be used to address our global climate change crisis.

Other insights from the masterclass were that there’s a real need to focus on practical applications. How do you make a carbon credit project? How do you get the finance for it? Those are the types of needs that need to be addressed. I think there was also overwhelming optimism about Africa’s potential to participate in these markets, whereas Africa did not successfully participate in the Kyoto markets, namely the clean development mechanism, it didn’t participate very well. I think that there’s a recognition of where there were failures, and there is an understanding of the lessons learned, and I hope that we can apply that going forward.

Obviously, one of the key takeaways, again, is the need to unlock finances for projects in these sectors. And that may also require capacity building, whether it is technology transfer, whether it’s human capital, those kind of things. Those were the main key insights arising from that workshop.

Q: What is your vision for what carbon markets can mean for the continent?

We are absolutely committed to developing carbon markets across the continent, particularly because carbon markets have the potential to contribute to the continent’s development agendas. And the way in which carbon markets can do that is that they can provide access to funds for measures that were previously considered economically unfeasible, or perhaps they faced other barriers like a lack of access to technology. Perhaps there were regulatory, legislative, political kind of barriers that have prevented these incredibly important projects from taking place. I do want to caution that carbon markets are not a silver bullet to our climate crisis. What they do represent is a key component in our suite of measures to address the climate crisis.

Carbon markets can be an incredibly substantive and long-term component of these suite of measures to address climate change.

Q: Anything you would like to add?

Other than to say I’m very keen and excited about the next phase of these workshops and looking forward to engaging further with interested parties, even critics, at the upcoming workshops and sessions.

Exclusive interview with Iain Banner, founder and chairman of Go Green Africa and co-founder of Africa’s Green Economy Summit.

Let’s start with Go Green Africa, its goals and the progress that was made in 2024.

I think 2024 has been a solid year for Go Green Africa. We kicked it off in February 2023 around the staging of Formula E Cape Town. And the intent was essentially to democratise going green; so to do that, it meant we needed to look at the big companies that are polluting, such as Eskom and Sasol and companies like Uber, and we needed to get them on board.

Then we needed solutions too, and we were able this year to bring Siemens to the party. They have joined us. It’s still to be officially announced, but I can advise that it is a happening thing, which I’m delighted about. And then of course we’ve got our smaller companies that are helping to drive technological solutions into the polluters to reduce the emissions of these polluters. And the job ahead includes really democratising it to the individuals, getting people to start thinking green and, most importantly, acting green. It’s a journey that will take time, but we’re very excited about it, and we’ve laid the foundation, and from here we want to accelerate into 2025.

What is your vision in terms of what carbon markets can mean for the African continent?

Carbon markets can mean a tremendous amount for Africa. I personally think that the carbon market system, the idea that you can use carbon credits as a means of offsetting your carbon footprint is really a strong idea. The problem is, it’s been hijacked by bad actors, cowboys and crooks, who have seen an opportunity in the early days to take full advantage of a system that was perhaps underprepared for that attack.

We’re working very hard to introduce trust into the system, and we are working with platforms that are independent and visible, such as Assidium, the registry, as well as Carbon Zero, the trading desk. And it’s all about credibility and transparency. And I am personally extremely excited about what carbon markets can do by way of nature credits and how we can protect very important wild landscapes in Africa through funding that is generated by carbon credits and that is totally valid because of the sequestration that happens in places like the Congo Basin, which is almost the size of the Amazon, and as important. So we’re working hard to try and make sure that we can take advantage of the new dispensation that’s just come out of COP29 and I see a bright future for carbon markets in Africa.

What is your view on the so-called Article 6 agreement on carbon markets at COP29?

The Article 6 agreement 6.2, that came out of COP29, is exciting. You’ve got the new finance goal of $300 billion per annum, meaning obviously there’s a lot more money that is to be made available annually for climate finance. And then the renewed attention to equity, the simplified access to climate finance for less developed countries. So that applies to the whole of Africa, frankly. Africa has carried the burden of being a mini polluter, let’s call it, relative to the rest of the world, but it’s essentially not had its fair share on the playing field. So, I think that these resolutions coming out of COP29 are positive, and we’ll see how things play into 2025.

Please tell us more about your work in north Zambia?

We’re involved in a very exciting project in the north of Zambia called the North Swaka Trust. It’s in Central Province, which is responsible for 50% of agricultural production in Zambia. The North Swaka Trust is overseeing the North Swaka lands as well as the Mkushi Headwaters, which total about 122,000 hectares; and it’s essential that this forest is retained and that these headwaters are protected, because the water that flows from them is the water that makes the agriculture possible in the Central Province. If that is deforested and degraded as it is potentially going to be, it will create a serious problem.

Fortunately, funded by INEOS, the North Swaka Trust has got to a position now where we are going through the scoping for the project. We’ll be verifying the methodologies and then verifying the project and securing carbon credits in order to fund the work that’s required to support the local communities, etcetera. It’s quite simple: the local communities need to be empowered in such a manner that when an illegal logger comes along with $100, they shoo them away, or something a bit more serious than that, because they realise that these are lands that are really, really essentially important for their country.

And that applies to all projects of this nature, and I’m reliably informed that there are up to 300 forests like this in Zambia alone. So this could be a real benchmark test case. We’re looking forward to the challenge of taking this project on, and we hope that it will generate sufficient revenue from carbon credits to fund the restoration work and the protective work that’s required to maintain the forests that are so important in North Zambia.

Exclusive interview with Paul Muthaura, CEO of the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI).

Let’s start with a short introduction about your career thus far and your role at ACMI.

Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Paul Muthaura, the chief executive of the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative. I was a long-term securities regulator and for a span of time, a member of the International Standards Setter for Securities Regulators (IOSCO). Thereafter, I moved to lead one of the larger regional insurance businesses in East Africa. I am glad to say that we were the first continental member of the TCFD Insurance Pilot Group.

Thereafter, I became an independent consultant, looking very much at supporting capital markets development in the East African region, and then looking fundamentally at the net zero transition and how we’re going to position Africa in a meaningful way, which led very much into the transition into the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative.

ACMI was launched at COP27, how have your goals and objectives evolved since then?

The Africa Carbon Marks Initiative was launched at COP27, and at the point of our launch, it was very much focused on really scaling voluntary carbon markets (VCMs) in Africa. Building from that initial point, through extensive stakeholder engagement, there grew to be a recognition of the need to support work that’s much broader than just the VCM space, looking at how we’re going to position markets effectively on the Article 6 evolution and implementation as well as looking at roadmaps to compliance market development in various markets. If anything, when you look at the somewhat adverse press that came out in 2023 and 2024 around some of the concerns around integrity gaps in the VCM space, we saw this as a stronger indication that there might or will likely be faster growth and scaling in the Article 6 space and the compliance market space. So, we’re glad that we’re readily able to support markets across the spectrum of types of carbon markets.

We note ACMI’s focus shift to include Article 6 and compliance markets beyond VCMs, will there be some integration across these market types?

As I mentioned, we are seeing significant evolution in both the Article 6 space and compliance market space, building on the foundations of VCM space. There is a running query as to whether these are going to become integrated? We do believe in time they will be, because a cohesive ecosystem really is what’s going to most support global climate goals achievement and effective balancing of those global goals as against national and regional priorities.

However, we must be conscious that by their very nature, compliance markets do tend to have a slower rollout process because of the policy and regulatory framework development to ensure alignment of national policy and international standards. But we do believe that enhanced coordination across these markets will really support a shift, if it’s supported with an effective level of shared learnings and implementation of transparent frameworks, and will really drive a more effective response to climate change, both at national level, regional levels, and ultimately at a global level.

It is noteworthy that ACMI’s mandate is continental.  How does that align with your workstreams on a country to country basis?

I think we are conscious that at the point of our launch, we were looking at really supporting and scaling of carbon markets on the whole African continent. But our work in our first two years has been very much focused on supporting a number of first mover jurisdictions that express their eagerness and willingness to work with ACMI at operationalising their national frameworks. In that process, I think it’s become increasingly evident that there are multiple African jurisdictions that are looking to draft and implement carbon market policies and frameworks that are at differential levels of approaches. But we do believe that this does give some level of a platform for valuable lessons learning to better inform continental and global carbon market evolution.

And we’re really glad to be working much more constructively with key continental institutions in Africa, being the AU Commission, the UN Economic Commission for Africa, the AU Development Agency, AUDA-NEPAD, the UNDP, and of course, the African Development Bank, for a truly catalysed and a more coordinated continental standard development process, and hopefully a more consistent operationalisation through really building a much more coordinated and driven learning and information sharing process to help unlock a collaborative impact. What’s becoming ever more evident is, with a lack of that kind of coordinated learning and information sharing, we really will see some level of slower or hindered progress, as well as the creation of gaps that, if addressed in a collaborative manner, would not have arisen.

What are you seeing as the drivers for countries to engage in carbon markets?

When we look at countries stepping up to really understand how best they can engage with the carbon markets, we’re very conscious that they need to start from a very clear understanding at national level about what their objectives are. Are they trying to position carbon markets to support climate finance channelling? Are they looking at it in terms of complementing sustainable development? Or are there much broader economic transformation goals that are being sought to be driven through the operationalisation of carbon markets?

We tend to find that where there isn’t a clear and coherent view as to why jurisdictions are operationalising these markets, you then tend to have really substantial challenges in implementation and some challenges in terms of trust building, because there is a disconnect between the stated goal and purpose and actual regulations and frameworks being put in place. So we strongly advocate for countries to articulate what their objectives are as early as possible in order to guide effective policy formulation and avoiding some of the pitfalls that come from some incongruence.

What is your vision about how Africa can benefit from carbon markets?

Now, if we’re able to see countries speaking with clear purpose and vision as to what they’re seeking to deliver, we’re very hopeful that the scaling and operationalisation of well-coordinated carbon markets on the continent really allows Africa to have a key role as a potential driver of transformative change, but the achievement of that transformative change will be somewhat reliant on strategic alignment, fundamental integrity implementation and then the overall collaboration at all levels of the ecosystem.

And, potentially oversimplified, but from our view, Africa’s huge availability of renewable energy, the realities of the low emissions environment we’re operating within, and as a consequence, the substantially lower cost of transition to much more sustainable industrial practices that are possible on this continent because you’re not retweaking and redeveloping infrastructure that was already in place, but building right the first time and running with speed. And then you add to that the really substantial young employable population who are in a position to be effectively empowered and capacitated to drive the new and scale it at a much speedier and much more impactful rate. We then believe Africa can have a huge value proposition to addressing solution delivery for the realities of the continental and global problems we’re seeing around climate change.

What in your view are the main success stories of ACMI up until now?  What do you expect to see going forward?

With our work so far in our first two years since COP27, I think we’re glad to note that we played central roles in supporting the design, implementation and operationalisation of legal frameworks in Kenya and Nigeria, as well as really supporting a lot of industry capacity building in, for example, Rwanda and Ghana, who moved with some speed to put their legal frameworks in place, and we’re looking forward to the announcements of the outcomes. In addition, the work we have done with the Mozambique government in putting in place a very robust legal framework, moving them from purely REDD+ oriented framework to looking at the full spectrum of the carbon market solutions that can be implemented.

We’re also glad to note that there are a number of other jurisdictions that have already expressed some level of interest in working with us, from Malawi through to the likes of Cameroon, and we hope, when you look at scale and impact, if we’re able to make our progress with our engagement with the likes of South Africa, Ethiopia and comparatively with jurisdictions like Madagascar, we’ll be able to really start showing and providing some key reference points on what it can look like across the scale of levels of economic development on this continent.

Building on that, I think we’re glad to already be working closely with the government of Kenya to put in place an Article 6-2 pilot framework built very much on clean cooking in schools. We have been working with a number of parties to put together an Advanced Market Signal to bring together the demand side, to give strong, value-based commitments that if the right quality of projects are made available, they have already committed to allocate in excess of a billion dollars to evidence the allocation of capital to those projects that have the most impact and the most transparent economic value to the communities they’re operating within.

How is ACMI working with the other support providers for the delivery of target outcomes for the continent?

We’re glad to be working with a number of partners of the likes of the Voluntary Carbon Market Integrity Initiative, VCMI, looking from the demand side at the design of an auditor training programme to really close the very substantial gap that exists in verification and validation capacity on the continent. This is hoped to also make sure that we have the right pool of capacity to be able to start making sure the co-benefit elements that are very substantive in African projects start being factored into the valuation of the credit from this continent.

To support that, we have designed a soon-to-launch carbon hub, which is a repository of information, for African PDs and ecosystem players to reference to better understand how they can effectively participate in this space. As earlier mentioned, we’re glad to put together the first showcase of African project developers, over 100 PDs cutting across more than 24 jurisdictions on the continent. We have also been looking to build greater awareness and capacity through hosting webinars and really working towards sharing an evidence-based narratives and the rollout of what we hope to be referenced as an ACMI message house. So that whatever the issue, you have a central point, you can get information and updated content on what’s going on and what impact it is expected to have.

But what has become so evident is we need to take these steps through building effective partnerships. We have rolled these out with the VCMI and ICVCM on the demand and supply side and also with the International Emissions Trading Association as well as UNDP Africa. And we’re glad to be making key steps with the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero’s Africa offices to really convene and bring together the demand side from the continent to catalyse effective investment on this continent. In addition, our partnership with the African Development Bank is very much central to supporting the introduction of appropriate financial intermediation tools and de-risking solutions that can help us move to the next step.

How important was the so-called Article 6 agreement reached at COP29?

When you look at the very positive messaging that came out of COP29 around some level of conclusions being reached around Article 6.4, we feel these have introduced much needed clarity on internationally traded mitigation option trading rules as well as authorisation pathways and ultimately cooperative approaches to the building of Article 6 markets.

Now, that notwithstanding, we remain conscious that demand for credits remains constrained due to the nascent nature of many mechanisms and some of the system challenges we’re seeing around financing and policy alignment. But we’re very hopeful that a sound interplay between the compliance markets under Article 6 and the evolving voluntary carbon market space will allow for some level of convergence as buyers increasingly seek credits with international authorisation as well as high environmental integrity.

All said, what do you think should be the priorities of stakeholders in establishing resilient carbon markets?

I think with all the positive work we see happening in multiple spaces, as well as project and product types, what’s absolutely central is the integration of the highest standards of integrity, really ensuring that mechanisms are credible and aligned with international best practices. There must be transparency and credibility in terms of equity and inclusion so that frameworks are prioritised where they deliver social and economic benefits alongside the environmental outcomes attached to the emissions reduction and removal targets of the carbon markets. But we must advocate for the highest level of regional and global cooperation so that we can take those next steps in terms of leveraging learning, promoting shared learning and really accelerating the development of aligned and well-integrated market systems.

Exclusive interview with Bianca Gichangi, Regional Lead for Africa at the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity (VCMI) Initiative and a member of the advisory board of the upcoming Africa’s Green Economy Summit.

Please give us some background about yourself and your role at the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity (VCMI) Initiative?

My name is Bianca Gichangi and I’m currently the regional lead for Africa at VCMI. Regarding my background: I’ve worked in the carbon market space for a while, on the policy side, working a lot with governments but also working with the private sector in terms of policy, capacity building and bringing stakeholders up to speed on the different aspects of carbon markets and I’ve also been involved in project development. At VCMI, I work as the Regional Lead for Africa on their access strategy programme, focusing on the African countries but overall on capacity building initiatives on carbon markets.

What was the impetus behind the creation of the VCMI?

The creation of VCMI was driven by an urgent need for credible and trustworthy carbon markets, as we’re moving towards  net zero targets. VCMI is a not-for-profit organisation that has been created to ensure that voluntary carbon markets operate with high integrity, support the goals of the Paris Agreement and brings benefit for people and planet.

It was announced in March of 2021 by the Co-President at the time, Alok Sharma, and has since then been broadly endorsed by companies, NGOs and governments. It is a standard setter on the demand side for the voluntary carbon markets with a claims code of practice, and with our Access Strategies Programme, which supports host countries with incorporating these high integrity VCMs.

The organisation was created over an 18-month consultative process engaging experts and different stakeholders across the board, from companies to governments, our stakeholder forum and expert advisory group in making it a holistic and international standard.

Part of the focus of the organisation is helping companies to make Carbon Integrity Claims? What are these?

The VCMI Carbon Integrity Claims are claims about carbon credits that companies can make to demonstrate their climate achievement and meaningful climate action. Through these claims organisations acknowledge that they have gone above and beyond their science-aligned emission cuts to accelerate global net zero. Companies can make these claims using our VCMI claims code of practice, which provides a universal standard for companies to, first of all, use carbon credits as part of their net zero transition, and second, to make verified claims about this use. This now ensures integrity on the demand side. And this means that companies use carbon credits in addition, not instead of, decarbonisation and make these credible claims.

Are companies reducing emissions fast enough? And do they have the tools to do this?

Well, companies are not reducing emissions fast enough and they are actually falling behind on their science-based targets. In reality, up to 60% of the companies with these science-based targets are falling behind on their Scope 3 emission reduction targets. But we need action right now. So the use of credits would mean faster emission reductions helping to conserve the carbon budget. And it’s better for those working hard to decarbonise, but still falling short of their targets to use credits to take responsibility for their emissions than to renounce their targets altogether.

This would allow them to direct capital to projects that bring emissions down quickly elsewhere. We believe that action is better than inaction. And we find that companies that use credits decarbonise a lot quicker, have more ambitious targets, invest more in decarbonisation efforts and have stronger governance.

Regarding the tools to advance this, VCMI has a Scope 3 claim, which is currently in beta version and will increase urgent climate action while companies transition to net zero. So this claim in beta version requires companies to make science-aligned emission cuts across direct operations under Scope 1 and 2, as well as take responsibility for their value chain emissions, Scope 3, through emission cuts and high-quality carbon credits. There will be guardrails in place to maintain integrity and to ensure that the carbon credits are used in addition and not to delay decarbonisation. It is not a get out of jail free card.

We are also in the process of having a public stakeholder consultation. In the past, we have often consulted with over 150 corporates on sustainability and finance and climate experts to inform this version.

How are you including Indigenous People and local communities in your activities and messaging?

While local communities and indigenous peoples are very active members of carbon markets they should be involved in the process and be empowered to participate all through the carbon markets project cycle. This means they should be involved all the way from inception and designing through verification, maintenance and its governance. It is important to involve them and not only as beneficiaries but also as shareholders of projects.

And voluntary carbon markets can quickly channel the finance to  low- and middle-income countries, directly focusing the finance to where it’s needed most for  Indigenous Peoples and Local communities who do the hard work of preserving 80% of the world’s biodiversity. Our access strategy programme has a toolkit that also goes into detail on how to factor in communities in your process and development of carbon markets frameworks.

Any particular success stories that you can share? 

Yes, in 2023, we ran an early adopters programme to support a group of companies committed to working on making a carbon integrity claim. We now are happy to announce that we have Bain & Company as part of that group, making the first integrity claim, ushering in a new era of high-integrity voluntary carbon markets. And recently in June of 2024, we had Natura Cosmetics also achieve a carbon integrity platinum claim. So this, of course, has set out a high standard for companies to engage in high use of quality carbon credits.

On the access strategy side, we have produced an access strategy toolkit that policymakers can use on how to incorporate this high-integrity voluntary carbon market activities into their climate plans, such as their NDCs or climate prosperity programmes. We are currently working with Peru, and we have provided support to the Kenya government in the form of a secondment. We have worked with the state of Yucatan in Mexico to develop a carbon market strategy and now are in the process of developing a best practice guide for their private sector to engage in voluntary carbon market activities.

This support also extends to case studies that we have done in different sectors. We have done a study on the opportunities for carbon markets in agriculture, blue economy in Latin America and the Caribbean region. So, we fully understand that capacity is required based on the requests that these countries make specific to access strategies programmes and we tailor the support to the request of the country.

How will Africa benefit from voluntary carbon markets?

We stand to benefit significantly from voluntary carbon markets, as it unlocks new carbon finance revenue streams for communities and governments, promoting sustainable practices in agriculture, promoting deployment of low carbon technologies in energy, transport and also attracting investment into a wide variety of projects cutting across different sectors.

It does position Africa to benefit from carbon markets, because previously we have not really seen the benefits translating into the sustainable development that the continent needs. Therefore, engaging in high-integrity carbon markets will enable us to really take advantage of carbon finance that can be used and channelled to where the African countries themselves prioritise this intervention and financing to go.

What are the biggest challenges?

However, governments and development banks say that this is not being ramped up fast enough. Integrity itself, which is really important on both the demand and supply side, having the high quality credits produced on the supply side – which IC-VCM is focused on, and then being used credibly on the demand side – which VCMI is focused on is really important to provide transparency. However, this alone will not drive up the demand, and government intervention is required through policies and regulations that actually promote the use of carbon markets and their uptake. So, we are running out of time, and companies need to act now for the carbon credits to be a part of this action with governments supporting these interventions.

What is your vision in terms of what the green economy could mean for job creation and climate change?

Well, for starters, voluntary carbon markets can drive green growth across various sectors, helping drive system transformations, support infrastructure development and create job opportunities, particularly for the youth. These markets can support sustainable farming practices and reforestation efforts, while also fostering the development of technical skills in emerging sectors such as e-mobility, clean cooking, and renewable energy. By engaging young engineers or youths with technical backgrounds in the local design and implementation of these low-carbon technology projects, we can build a skilled workforce that not only advances green innovation but also ensures that economic benefits are widely shared within communities.

What excites you most about the opportunities that the green economy can have for Africa?

What excites me the most about the opportunities for Africa is the abundance and wealth of resources that we have, and how we can use that as an opportunity and to frame ourselves as a critical part of the solution to global decarbonisation. We have so many rich renewable energy resources, large expanses of arable land, diverse terrestrial and marine ecosystems, critical minerals and a young population that is growing. We really are on the verge of sustainable economic growth, and even speaking about green industrialisation that can be propelled by these resources.

We have so many opportunities coming up, for example, in the e-mobility space, which weren’t there before, especially in the carbon market space, this is something really new and an opportunity for us to decarbonise in terms of the way we travel. And there are opportunities in clean cooking. We’re seeing advanced technologies coming up in terms of biofuels, but also clean cooking using electricity.

So, we are really innovating as we move along, such as with the opportunities of sustainable practices in agriculture and biochar.And of course,  renewable energy can be used to drive green industrialisation. For example, in Eastern Africa, we have a lot of geothermal and that can be used to also support direct air capture. So there are a lot of opportunities in new spaces that we should be able to take advantage of and really use these carbon markets as a way of bringing in finance that will also leverage more financing to contribute to sub-sectors growing. But it is also catalytic in terms of increasing the deployment of these low-carbon technologies. So I’m really excited for us to use these markets, but use them in a new way, from how carbon markets were used, to really propel Africa’s priorities in terms of moving forward in our green growth.

You are a member of the AGES advisory board. What made you decide to become involved in AGES?

Well, joining the advisory board actually aligns perfectly with the passion I have for the green growth that the continent is going to have and the sustainable development on the continent. So I definitely see the summit as a platform to shape the narrative around green economy, the policies that we are developing, the networks and collaborations that leading organisations and countries will come forward in terms of providing lasting solutions for a future where we can transition into sustainable development. So, it’s one of the initiatives that really aligns with the work that I am doing, and it was a natural decision to join.

How important is such an event for the continent?

It’s really important for the continent, because, as mentioned before, it’s really key for us to come together, first of all, to know the progress that we are making, to learn from each other, to understand what our challenges are, but also to celebrate the successes that we are having in terms of driving our climate agendas in our countries and how that is contributing towards us growing. So, it’s really important that we don’t get siloed into what we’re just doing by ourselves. This is an opportunity for us to look at all these different aspects that contribute towards holistic green growth. It’s really important for all different kinds of stakeholders, whether it’s private sector, governments and civil society organisations, to really be a part of this conversation and to really boost the narrative that we can actually have development that is not contributing to the climate crisis.

It’s important for us as Africa to know that, even though we are the most vulnerable countries when it comes to climate impacts and have the least emissions and really have contributed the least in terms of these emissions, that we can consciously choose to develop in a manner that is different from what caused this problem. Of course, we will need a lot of climate finance to make this a reality, but it is crucial that we explore every avenue, use all innovative instruments we can, such as carbon markets as well, to see how we can finance our transition and our development because we need to develop. And it’s important that we do so in a way that is resilient for our people, but at the same time, also reducing emissions. So, it is definitely an important conversation that needs to bring everybody together to continue advancing how Africa can grow in a green and sustainable way.

August is Women’s Month in South Africa, but we celebrate women all over the continent. Do you have a message about the role of women in the energy transition?

My message would be that women need to continue supporting each other. This space, in terms of energy transition is unique, and it is a unique opportunity for women to be empowered, to get into new sectors and new aspects of climate change that were not traditionally there, but are now also an opportunity for them to come in, contribute to policy, contribute to projects that are actually leading to renewable energy, leading to community benefits, and leading to wider knowledge on the subject matter.

And it’s really important for women to be a part of this conversation, and for the women that are in the space to keep encouraging each other and to also keep mentoring younger women to get into this space as well and to really continue working to amplify our voices and the support of the work on the continent as it’s a crucial, crucial time for women to be involved and to become leaders in the space.

Exclusive interview with Javier Manzanares, co-CEO, Green Climate DAO*: ClimateCoin and the former deputy executive director of the Green Climate Fund. Mr Manzanares is also a member of the advisory board of the upcoming Africa’s Green Economy Summit. 

*DAO (decentralised autonomous organisation)  

Let’s start with some background on you. You have extensive experience as a green climate finance advisor, including with the Green Climate Fund. 

Good day to everyone. Thank you very much for having me. My name is Javier Manzanares. I am the co-CEO of Climate Digital Investment, with ClimateCoin as a flagship brand for the project. 

Regarding my experience, I worked for the Green Climate Fund (GCF) for nearly eight years, initially as a CFO and director of support services. I then became interim executive director on two occasions. My final post during the last four years at the GCF was as deputy executive director. I finished that tenure about a year and a half ago. Since then, I’ve been fully immersed in carbon markets, mostly in voluntary carbon markets. 

I’m also a senior consultant to the World Bank on a project and programme to scale voluntary carbon markets in middle-income countries. We cover about 14 countries: South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, to name a few. I’m also a board member at a programme standard for voluntary carbon markets called BioCarbon Registry. 

Please tell us more about ClimateCoin. 

ClimateCoin is a blockchain-based project. The purpose is to tokenise credible, robust certified carbon credits and to convert them into a digital currency, and the digital currency is ClimateCoin. 

We’ve dedicated the last year to product development. Our first beta testing is available for testing on different social media channels, and we are now also progressing towards our second product development that brings us to a two-way bridge, meaning that you can decide yourself to tokenise those certified carbon credits that you hold on one of the registries and convert them into ClimateCoin. If you decide to go back off-chain, go back into the initial status of your certified carbon credits, you can also do so. 

ClimateCoin has applied for listing on the Spanish Stock Exchange, and we have already filed our proposal with the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (National Securities Market Commission), and we are ready for the public listing of our governance token, we call it CLIMAT, and we expect that to take place during the month of October. 

Let’s talk about the rising importance of carbon markets in battling climate change. How have carbon markets developed and what is the state of play?    

Both mandatory compliance markets and voluntary carbon markets have already reached very sizable, very relevant figures. All in all, for the year 2022, research indicates that the volume within market carbon markets was nearly $900 billion, which was mostly within the compliance and mandatory carbon markets. However, voluntary carbon markets are definitely progressing and growing rapidly and exponentially and it should have an important role in battling climate change.  

Why carbon markets are growing in importance? I would say that it’s just a logical reason behind the battle against or towards decarbonisation. In order to combat climate change, we need to reduce emissions, we need to decarbonise the entire society. Carbon markets offer an alternative for that process of decarbonisation. Whether it’s because you are avoiding, reducing or removing emissions, carbon markets offer financial instruments and frameworks for that to take place in an orderly manner. 

The carbon markets have developed in in two different ways, the regulated and the compliance one is still a growing market and we see countries adopting, for instance, carbon tax, domestically, and we also see countries that are adopting emission trading asset cap-and-trade systems. This is growing, like I said. A number of countries are joining carbon markets in the compliance or the mandatory stage.  

We also see a market within, which is the voluntary and is growing, albeit with growing pains, if I may say, and growing with a level of fragmentation, growing with the need for more transparency, more liquidity, more transparent price discovery, but growing nevertheless. And, perhaps, it is within that stage of asking out loud for some kind of level of regulation within the voluntary carbon market. In my view, it is taking too long for countries to react.  

You will probably have seen the news in the carbon markets during the last few months the criticism because of the lack of integrity. As a response to that, we have also seen a number of initiatives and frameworks that are trying to provide that level of transparency and integrity in the voluntary carbon market. This is happening, it is also rapidly evolving, and we see initiatives presenting core carbon principles, like the ICVSM (Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market), and with the work of the BCM Initiative, the International Chamber of Commerce, we also see the Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets etc. So all of this is adding to providing a greater degree of transparency. However, we’re still missing some global or universal standards setting authority to provide that type of guidance, and in the absence of that, these initiatives and frameworks are providing that element of additional robustness or transparency and integrity into the voluntary carbon markets. 

What opportunities does carbon finance present to Africa? 

Particularly in Africa, we see enormous opportunities for carbon finance. I see it within nature-based solutions, and I also see frameworks and protocols for biodiversity that are coming up very strongly. 

They call it biodiversity credits, protocols on habitat banks, with a purpose for conservation and restoration of nature. Africa presents probably the greatest growth opportunity within carbon markets. In order for that to happen, what we also need to see is countries taking ownership in generating an ecosystem that will support the growth within countries. For this, I’m referring to countries with a certain scale in Africa that should move to ensure that there are domestic standards in the country and domestic players that can provide services of validation and verification.

These domestic players can provide registries: whether it’s a national registry by governmental authority or within the private sector itself that can provide those types of tools. Tools that, all in all, not only present the basis for growth, but also create job opportunities and the capacity that is needed in many of the countries. 

Then, definitely apart from biodiversity credits, nature-based solutions or results-based financing in carbon credits. I also think that Africa presents opportunities in carbon storage, carbon capture and storage and widely in energy, renewable and solar, which still having a lot of room for growth, and being part of that energy transition. It is a transition that is needed in many regions of the world, but particularly in Africa—a just energy transition with the support of the right financing package would bring Africa to the level that is needed within the continent. 

Are there successful examples of carbon market deals that have gone through in the last 12 months? 

There are a lot of deals in the carbon markets that we have seen during the last 12 months. If I were to highlight some of them, I would say that habitat banks present a growth opportunity for many developing countries or emerging economies. This is not only about carbon markets. Carbon markets and carbon reduction cannot be taken in isolation. It has to be taken within pricing nature, and there is also a Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures now.  

The objective is to understand what the nature-related risks are, the impact, the challenge and the opportunities, and then the market, through all these initiatives, is bringing that badly needed element. So, examples within nature-based solutions within habitat banks have all the necessary elements to ensure that the carbon reduction has to be accompanied by restoration, conservation of nature, and these deals have indeed provided this initial additional element of certainty into a protocol for biodiversity credits. These are the deals that in my opinion are to be highlighted. 

Which innovative finance products have you seen to be effective in this sector? 

Honestly, that remains to be seen. Some of the financial products that we have seen are becoming effective. Others need additional support, maybe from large, multilateral development banks or regional development banks. And in my mind, what I’m referring to right now, is the potential growth and importance of financial instruments like carbon insurance.  

We have seen a number of standards and programmes, and they are playing a very important role in issuing carbon credits. Some of them also play an important role in providing registries, and carbon credit ratings are also coming into the picture, so as to give additional peace of mind in the integrity and quality of these carbon credits. So, in my view, carbon insurance could and should be another innovative finance product. It would definitely give that element of credibility to the investors and buyers.  

Personally, I would like to see a lot more results-based financing in carbon markets, and there is plenty of room for growth in the issuance of partial credit guarantees or similar instruments. That would motivate buyers and investors and provide that element of security during a period of uncertainty that the voluntary current market has gone through and is still going through. If these more innovative financial products could come along, with the support from institutions like IOSCO (International Organization of Securities Commissions) in providing guidance and regulation to the exchanges, that would be ideal.  

And then, in a global and international context, I believe that, in the current volatile markets, we are missing the leadership of international organisations and leadership in terms of standards that all the programmes can follow. And, it would be extremely useful to also have a registry that provides that type of integration. The World Bank has done and is doing quite a bit of work on the Climate Action Data Trust, for instance, to provide the registries and space for integration within a platform. This is the type of initiative that the market is crying out for. 

Getting back to mandatory and voluntary carbon markets, are there certain legal implications that present challenges? 

Particularly, when we talk about legal implications, I would like to refer initially to the voluntary carbon markets, this is in the nascent stage. And referring, for instance, to the work that we are doing with the World Bank in a number of countries. We’re starting from the very, very initial stage, meaning, what’s the legal nature of carbon credits? At the end of the day, countries are sovereign, but we’re now supporting countries in defining the legal nature.  

So, as you can imagine, the implications are tremendous. There are implications in terms of tax treatment, financial disclosure and legal agreements. So, all of this is still being tackled, if I may say. So, without clarity for investors on what the tax implication are for a company, for a financial institution, maintaining a portfolio of carbon credits, if there is no clarity on how to account or what the risk is for the capital of a corporation in maintaining these new assets, the market will definitely take a lot longer to develop and to scale. 

This has been treated differently in the mandatory and compliance markets. I think proof of that is their level of growth and the vast volume of ETS (emissions trading system) markets that they have developed. They have grown quite a bit, and at the end of the day this is also represented in the pricing. There is a price disparity between mandatory and compliance markets, and you see an enormous difference with voluntary carbon markets.

Even when we talk about carbon tax, let’s say, an average price for carbon tax, we go from $5, $6, $7 to $8 or $10. In most of the countries, they are outliers with a much higher rate on carbon tax, but the average would probably be around $7 or $8 a tonne. When you go into ETS markets in Europe, it varies, but an average price for 2023 is €75, €85 a tonne. Like I said, a price disparity.  

Then, we move to the California ETS and the average price is about $40 a tonne. So, the price disparity is not helping either. Still, it gives you an idea of the need for more universal and global frameworks that can provide guidance to countries in general on how to tackle these challenges that we see that, in my view, until such a time that there is some sort of regulation within the carbon markets, will create a bottleneck that will hamper the growth of voluntary carbon markets. 

How important is the principle of ESG to combat climate change? 

ESG is the foundation. I’m not sure if we can call it a principle, foundation or a framework. But it is definitely a good basis for combating climate change. And I mentioned earlier on that we cannot speak about climate change in isolation of the social elements and in isolation of strong governance, and that is what the ESG framework presents. It ensures for those companies that are adopting an ESG framework, that, from those companies’ perspective, from organizations in general, that we tackle all decisions based on the three buckets that could definitely be presented, maybe even more ambitiously, into other frameworks.  

But, if we speak more specifically about ESG, what all of us are trying to do, is that the decisions made within a corporation, within any organization, elements related to the environment are taken into account, elements related to social activities within the company, within the structure and governance of the corporation, and that they have an impact in society.

They also provide the challenges and opportunities in that every decision that a corporation makes has either nature-related risks or they have socially or governance-related risks. So when I speak about climate change, I speak about climate change within the context of our planet, within the context of our society. Again, this is not an isolated problem, this is a problem that has to be integrated within all the necessary responses to our society. And again, ESG is a robust framework that we can use. 

What keeps you excited about this industry? 

What keeps me excited about the industry in the current markets is the level of innovation that carbon markets are presenting within any possible context. Here we talk about blockchain, digital monitoring, reporting and verification. We talk about new technologies in carbon capture and storage or how to use artificial intelligence within carbon markets. So personally, what makes me excited is how the new breakthrough technologies are impacting carbon markets and how they are about to impact carbon markets in the near future with the main purpose of decarbonising the economy.  

So, by bringing in new technology and by reaching a certain level of scale, we will make the usage of that technology a lot more efficient and effective, and what is most relevant, how to put this new technology at the service of emerging and developing economies, so that the transition and the decarbonisation of these least developed, developing and emerging economies is fair and just. And, those polluting and who have contributed the most to the huge level of emissions in the atmosphere, they have to pay the bill, they have to contribute and they have to support others who have not contributed to the levels of emissions that we see nowadays. 

You are a member of the advisory board for the next Africa’s Green Economy Summit in Cape Town in February 2024. How important is such an event for the continent in your view?

I’m honoured to be a member of the advisory board for Africa’s Green Economy Summit. These kinds of events are of great importance as they provide not only that element of visibility that is needed, but also bring experts and the right audience in terms of investors and sponsors and in ensuring that we are all contributing to a green economy.  

And, particularly for Africa, I think these events are even more important, because the level of support, and I say here South-South support, I think is more important than ever. There are some countries in Africa that are taking strong leadership in areas of ESG and areas of green economy and it would be ideal if these countries are also in the knowledge sharing sessions.

So, from the perspective of having investors and potential investors, relevant players, academia, experts in general in green economy, experts in ESG, in circular economy—they bring the right narrative and the right context for all of us to learn. At the end of the day, this industry badly needs more contributions, more adoption of ESG practices and facilitating to provide the right context for investors and financiers to feel comfortable about contributing, participating and investing in in Africa. 

What will be your message at the event next year? 

From my perspective, my message is more about African countries’ ownership. It is essential that African countries believe in themselves to build the right voluntary carbon markets and mandatory carbon markets for that purpose, but that they bring their ecosystem so that the carbon market can complete the stages in a project cycle and that these stages are handled by nationals to the furthest extent possible. So, there is an opportunity for jobs, there is an opportunity for knowledge and that the countries can tackle mandates by themselves.  

So, it is essential, and this is what I would like to summarise as part of my message, it is essential that those countries that are in a position to strengthen their own capacities in the carbon markets provide avenues for domestic growth and new job opportunities. I would like to encourage the countries to do so, and if they have not done it, to start putting measures in place so that the carbon market ecosystem is as strong as possible in each one of the countries. Thank you very much. It was a great pleasure to have this discussion with you today.