West Africa Carbon Market Hub: 26-28 September 2023 in Abidjan

The West African Alliance on Carbon Markets and Climate Finance (the Alliance) has been working towards the establishment of a sub-regional framework on carbon markets since its inception in 2016. The Alliance’s mission objective is to strengthen the voices of West African countries in international climate negotiations, build capacity, enhance sub-regional cooperation, develop partnerships and share experiences and best practices. Building on its existing work and following the adoption and expected near-term operationalization of the Article 6 Rulebook, the Alliance, in a strategic partnership with the International Emissions Trading Association’s (IETA) Business Partnership for Market Implementation (B-PMI) launched their first successful cooperation: the West African Carbon Market Hub. The conference was held in Abidjan, from September 26 to 28, 2023. This initiative, a first of its kind in West Africa, aims to encourage private sector engagement in the sub-region. The West African Carbon Market Hub fulfilled its objective and was a resounding success in terms of organization, diversity of participation, thematic content, development of partnerships through the signing of several Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs), and the commitment of participants to fruitful exchanges.

The objectives of the workshop were two-fold:
First, to encourage private sector engagement in carbon markets in West Africa by:
– Highlighting the challenges and opportunities of carbon markets in the region;
– Sharing knowledge on the implementation of Article 6 and the current state of negotiations;
– Obtaining feedback from the business community on the requirements and opportunities for
implementing Article 6, in addition to the general carbon market landscape in the region;
– Facilitating information sharing and collaboration between West African companies, West African governments, international businesses and investors, and other stakeholders; and
– Maintaining continued collaboration between participants via exchanges, commitments and annual events.

Second,
to facilitate the development of win-win partnerships between carbon market participants by organizing business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-government (B2G) meetings.
The meeting saw the participation of approximately 200 stakeholders, including Ministers and their representatives, ambassadors, international organizations, national and international private investors, multilateral financing institutions, local authorities, NGOs and youth representatives.