News and Events

05.18.2006
CDCF - Special Effort in Africa

Carbon Expo Side Event

Cologne, Friday, May 12, 2006

A CDCF/UNEP side event on CDM in Africa was held in Cologne during Carbon Expo on May 12, 2006. A discussion took place on the difficulties facing carbon finance project development in Africa and potential solutions to them. The challenges are lack of technical capacity, lack of an enabling investment climate, and a methodological framework that is more favorable to industrializing fossil fuel intensive economies than to the more poor countries with agrarian economies (for example the ineligibility of non-renewable biomass in the baseline in rural energy projects). Suggestions from the workshop included a focus on capacity building in African countries; strengthen the DNAs; mainstreaming carbon finance into regular World Bank activities to increase their financial viability; and having the Host Country Committee solicit the Executive Board for regulatory change.

The workshop was attended by 20-25 participants, of which 40% were from African countries that are also priority countries for the CDCF.