Africa Carbon Forum

Conference, Trade Fair and Capacity Development to build on CDM gains on continent — IETA, UNEP, UNDP, WB, UNITAR, UNCTAD, AfDB and UNFCCC.

Background

In November 2006, the Secretary-General Kofi Annan launched the Nairobi Framework, aimed at supporting the application of the Kyoto Protocol’s clean development mechanism (CDM) in underrepresented regions. Since then, interest in the mechanism in Africa has grown, and with it the number of projects and hosting countries. Still, Africa accounts for less than 2 per cent of the more than 1,890 plus CDM projects registered to date in 58 countries.

In an effort to build growing interest on the CDM in Africa,  the Nairobi Framework partners: the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the UNFCCC secretariat, the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) and the World Bank (WB) have organized the first Africa Carbon Forum in Senegal in 2008.

This year, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) have joined as partners to the Nairobi Framework.

The Nairobi Framework partners are organizing the second all-Africa Carbon Forum at the United Nations Gigiri Componds in Nairobi, Kenya, from 3–5 March 2010.

Objetives

The African Carbon Forum is a trade fair and knowledge sharing platform for carbon investments in the region by bringing together representatives from designated national authorities (DNA), national focal points, representatives from several UN agencies, governments and the private sector.  It includes matchmaking and deal facilitation sessions that will enable potential CDM project participants and developers to showcase their projects to interested parties, including investors and carbon buyers.

Specifically, the second African Carbon Forum aims at:

• Update on the different views of the challenges associated with global climate change, and recent developments in the international carbon market;

• Discuss with project developers and technical specialists of a wide range of sectors and technologies arising from best practices and lessons learned for the implementation of CDM projects in Africa;

• Learn from the most respected experts from the public and private sector on strategies and measures aimed at promoting the benefits of the CDM in the region, emphasizing the new Programmatic CDM approach;

• Enable CDM project participants and developers to showcase their projects to interested parties by holding matchmaking and deal facilitation sessions;

• Seize opportunities to establish contacts throughout the Forum.