Africa’s carbon markets gain momentum as climate finance opportunities expand
Africa’s carbon markets are entering a new phase, with governments tightening policy frameworks, investors seeking credible projects and growing focus on how the continent can unlock more climate finance.
These issues will be at the centre of the Carbon Markets Africa Summit (CMAS) 2026, set for October 13 to 15 in Kigali, Rwanda. Policymakers, investors, carbon project developers, corporate buyers and market leaders from Africa and beyond will gather to discuss how high-integrity carbon markets can support investment and sustainable development on the continent.
The summit comes as Article 6 implementation advances globally and African governments shift from readiness to delivery. The African Union is rolling out its Africa Action Plan on Carbon Markets, while countries such as Ghana are developing Article 6 project pipelines and authorisation systems. AUDA-NEPAD’s African Principles for Equity and Integrity in Carbon Markets are also driving greater focus on governance, transparency and community benefit-sharing.
For Africa, the next challenge is converting this policy progress into transactions and investment. Buyers and investors are scrutinising project quality, credible monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) systems, compliance readiness and transaction certainty, with strong projects needing to connect to the right capital, buyers and institutional support.
CMAS 2026 is hosted by Rwanda’s Ministry of Environment, with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) as host organisations, the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) as host partner and AUDA-NEPAD as strategic institutional partner. New partners for this year’s summit include GIZ, BeZero Carbon, Welthungerhilfe, FSD Africa, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Carbon Standards International.
The programme will address how Article 6 and the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) can move from policy into real transactions, what makes a project bankable, insurable and verifiable, and how Africa can build the MRV and validation capacity it needs while maintaining market integrity. Contributions are expected from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the European Commission, alongside more than 10 African governments and over 20 investors and financiers.
Across three days, the summit will run high-level leadership discussions, investor and buyer roundtables, project showcases, technical workshops, solution labs and dedicated deal rooms. Sessions will cover voluntary demand and offtake realities, high-quality MRV and ratings, policy readiness, regional carbon market alignment, early-stage carbon finance, private capital de-risking, authorisation in practice and registry interoperability. A UNEP-hosted Nature Deal Room will bring governments, corporate buyers, investors and standards bodies together to advance high-integrity nature-based carbon transactions.
Shikha Sharma, Global Technical Lead for Offsets and Removals at SGS, said Africa has the potential to shape the direction of the global carbon market. “If Africa gets governance right, invests in local capabilities and keeps integrity at the centre, it won’t just supply the market. It will influence how the market operates globally,” she said.
Fatmata Lovetta Sesay, Resident Representative at UNDP Rwanda, said the value of carbon markets lies in what they can fund. “The task before us in Kigali is to build markets that are credible, investable, and designed to deliver real value for African countries and communities,” she said.
Portfolio Director Emmanuelle Nicholls said collaboration among governments, investors, project developers and the private sector will be critical to unlocking the continent’s carbon market opportunity, adding that CMAS 2026 is designed to bring stakeholders together to strengthen partnerships and accelerate practical action.
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