Africa-Press – Angola. The Minister of the Environment, Ana Paula Chantre de Carvalho, explained, in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, that Angola is in an advanced stage of creating a law for a carbon market, at a time when the energy transition presents a breakthrough in clean energy in the order of 72 percent.
At the African Business Forum, held on Monday, where she represented the Head of State, João Lourenço, the minister also left guarantees that by 2030 the country would reach the target of 35 percent in greenhouse gas emissions.
This commitment stems from the Paris Agreement, of which Angola is an integral part, and is aligned with the National Strategy for Climate Change 2022-2035.
Ana Paula de Carvalho also made it known that the country already has development projects related to carbon, but that it needs to overcome five (5) major challenges before putting them into effect. This involves concluding the certification of forests and environmental conservation areas, which are national parks and reserves, putting the climatic observatory into operation, creating a carbon credit certification system, developing projects to reduce emissions and strengthening institutional capacities.
Carbon market
The carbon market is the system for buying and selling carbon credits and Angola, by choosing to follow this path, intends to guarantee the targets for greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, through the attribution of quotas (credits) of emissions. This procedure obliges companies to invest in the renewable energy segment and given the low emission in relation to the quota (credit) allocated, it can sell to another one in a less favorable situation, which purchases according to the needs presented or available credits. For example, data indicate that a carbon credit is equivalent to one ton (1,000 kilograms) of carbon dioxide. Right now, (Monday’s indicator from Investing.com), carbon credits on the international market cost over $90.
Cop27 boost
Minister Ana Paula Xantre de Carvalho also said that the Addis Ababa Forum is important in that it aims to take advantage of the positive momentum generated at Cop27 on climate change, held in Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt, in November 2022, on the use of carbon credit markets. This should be seen as a means of accelerating climate action and generating investments in transformative economic actions in African countries.
“Nowadays, the concept of sustainable development, by intending to maintain human progress, not just in some places and for certain years, but throughout the world for the future, has become a goal to be achieved, whether by countries poor, as well as the highly industrialized,” he said.
Pressure on resources
The environment minister said that the increase in poverty and unemployment, in general, have exerted strong pressure on environmental resources. This is due to the fact that, at global level, there is an increasing number of people depending on them, which from the outset compromises education and initiatives in favor of sustainable development.
Ana Paula de Carvalho recalled that the forest accounts for most credits for removal and total credits, per ton of carbon dioxide, in all markets. The growing trend in the transaction value of carbon credits brings us an excellent business opportunity for Angola, in particular, and for Africa in general.
“In Angola, it is estimated that the Miombo forest occupies more than 80 percent of the forest surface, constituting the cradle of the main river basins in the country, extending from the central zone of Africa to the southern region of the continent, where occupies an extension of approximately 3.8 million square kilometers, covering South Africa, Botswana, Burundi, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, DRC, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Angola”, he detailed.
Minister Ana Paula de Carvalho also said that Miombo is of great socio-economic importance, as more than 150 million people depend on its goods and services with the provision of food, biomass energy and various environmental benefits and offers, in this moment, the best opportunities for exploiting carbon credits. “Carrying out low-carbon projects allows the use of forest resources without compromising their sustainability, avoiding the cutting of forest species”, she said.
Forum mobilizes public entities and private partners
The Addis Ababa Africa Business Forum was held on Monday under the theme “Making carbon markets work for Africa” in free translation from English.
The forum took place at the Sheraton Hotel in Addis Ababa, on the sidelines of the 36th ordinary session of the Summit of Heads of State and Government of the African Union.
The Africa Business Forum 2023 aims to promote continued dialogue between the public and private sectors to accelerate collective efforts towards the realization of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union’s Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want.
The 2023 edition of the Forum builds on the positive momentum generated at the twenty-seventh session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, in November 2022, which focused on the use of carbon credit markets as a means of accelerating climate action and in generating investments to bring about economic transformation in African countries.
The Forum is jointly organized by the African Economic Community – CEA and the African Export-Import Bank, with the support of the African Union Commission.
The Forum brought together governments, private investors and civil society entities to facilitate investment in bankable projects that deliver meaningful climate action in Africa.
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