What can carbon markets do for Africa’s landscapes?

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Carbon markets often get a bad rap. The carbon credits they govern can be tricky to verify, and they can give corporations an easy way out of cutting emissions by simply buying credits.

But carbon markets aren’t inherently flawed: many experts and practitioners are working to make them more robust and high-integrity so they can truly become part of the solution.

If done right, they can offer a lifeline to climate projects across the Global South, especially as the U.S. and other rich countries continue to cut back development aid.

In fact, under rules agreed at COP29 last year, carbon markets are now being expanded to enable countries – not just corporations – to create and trade carbon credits under Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement.

That means countries in the Global North can now buy credits from their less affluent counterparts to help achieve their climate targets through offsetting.

For instance, Switzerland and Peru signed the world’s first such agreement in 2020, while Singapore has partnered with Papua New Guinea and Ghana. Now that rules have been agreed, these and other deals are set to come into operation.

And despite the many ethical issues associated with ‘outsourcing’ climate action, this burgeoning carbon market could offer a vital revenue stream to help African and other Global South countries plot a new development path – one free of the strings attached to development aid.

Tree Aid is an international development charity that works with dryland communities across Africa to tackle poverty and the climate crisis together by planting trees and restoring land.

We spoke to three members of the Tree Aid team – Alexis Sompougdou, forest governance specialist; Annie Schultz, global advocacy lead; and Jasmin Dorney, advocacy officer – to learn why Africa needs to rethink development and how carbon markets can play a role.

Interview by Amos Amanubo

Why is it important to rethink Africa’s development models?

There are three key reasons. First, the funding sources we’ve been working with aren’t sufficient, most recently illustrated by the cuts to development aid.

At the same time, current levels of public climate and nature finance fall far short of what’s needed to support the agriculture, forestry, and other land use sector across Africa, which is essential for climate resilience across the continent.

They also don’t address the urgent challenges of desertification and land degradation.

Second, the global financial system that underpins these development models is no longer fit for purpose or sustainable. It often locks developing countries into cycles of debt, undermining the very goals it’s meant to support.

Third, today’s challenges of climate change, land degradation and poverty are more connected and complex than the historical development models were designed for.

These issues can’t be solved separately. Instead, they need joined-up, cross-sector solutions that bring together different actors.

Reforming development models is essential. These should be built on new innovative and sustainable financing approaches that put African countries and communities in the driver’s seat of their own development.

Most importantly, solutions must break out of the development sector alone. Only holistic approaches that connect climate, nature, people and both public and private sectors can truly address what lies ahead.

How effectively are carbon markets functioning in Africa, and how can they deliver the sustainable finance needed?

Nature market-based initiatives, like the voluntary carbon market (VCM), have huge untapped potential in Africa.

A recent joint Tree Aid and World Economic Forum report shows how promising the VCM could be. Africa could become a global leader, generating major income from carbon credits while also restoring land and supporting communities.

In the Great Green Wall region, stretching across 11 countries from Dakar to Djibouti, there’s potential to capture 1.8 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.

At the 2023 market price of USD 15.74 per tonne, that’s worth about USD 28 billion, with prices expected to rise – considerably higher than the GDP of many Sahelian countries.

But for the VCM to truly work for sustainable development, it must follow clear, high-integrity standards, especially where markets are evolving faster than regulations.

The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) has created Core Carbon Principles (CCP), which are global benchmarks for high-quality carbon credits.

To unlock the potential of the VCM and other nature-based market tools in Africa, five key actions are needed:

1. Public investment in local governance: Strong local management of natural resources is essential.
2. Public–private partnerships: Governments and development banks should co-invest in carbon projects to encourage private carbon investment. This helps scale up efforts that have clear environmental and social benefits.
3. National policy frameworks: Many African countries lack clear carbon market regulations. Of the six countries where Tree Aid works, only Ghana has a national carbon policy framework. Governments and global institutions need to create stable, supportive policy environments for markets to grow.
4. Community-led approaches: Projects work best when local people lead and benefit. This means securing free, prior and informed consent, ensuring fair benefit sharing and following principles of locally-led restoration and adaptation.
5. Transparency: Clear, shared information is critical. Investors, communities, governments and project developers all need access to reliable data to build a trustworthy and successful carbon market.

How can carbon markets support Africa’s climate adaptation goals?

Africa is one of the most vulnerable continents to the climate crisis and desertification, facing severe impacts like drought, floods and rising food insecurity. It’s critical to scale up support for climate adaptation, and carbon markets can help by funding high-quality nature-based solutions that build resilience.

Here’s how carbon projects can support adaptation:

• Restoring degraded ecosystems: Forests and other natural systems help protect against climate impacts. Trees improve soil water retention, reduce erosion and prevent fertile land from turning into desert. Restored ecosystems like wetlands and forests act as natural barriers against droughts, floods and extreme heat.
• Strengthening ecosystem services that support communities: Nature-based carbon projects can improve local resilience when combined with sustainable economic activities.

To ensure that carbon projects truly support climate adaptation and resilience, they must meet several key conditions:

1. Be locally led: Projects must be guided by the needs and knowledge of local communities. This includes planting the right trees in the right places and ensuring people have secure access to land and natural resources. Without land rights, communities can’t invest in or benefit from restoration in the long term.
2. Include women and youth: These groups are often left out of environmental decision making but are heavily affected by the climate crisis. Their involvement strengthens both social impact and long-term resilience.
3. Guarantee fair benefit sharing: Communities restoring land must be fairly compensated. Benefit sharing must be transparent and protect community rights over land and resources.
4. Take a holistic approach: Projects should go beyond just storing carbon or chasing short-term returns. They should also improve food security, livelihoods and ecosystem health. This creates lasting benefits for both people and nature – and makes the investment more sustainable.

Africa stands at a pivotal moment. The challenges of climate change, land degradation and poverty are urgent, but so are the opportunities.

Carbon markets, if done right, can be a game changer: unlocking new finance, strengthening local communities and restoring landscapes at scale. But success hinges on integrity, inclusion and strong governance.

With the right investment and political will, Africa can lead the world in building climate-resilient, prosperous landscapes – on African terms, for African futures.