The Africa Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI) announced 13 action programs. Steering committee members, made up of African leaders, CEOs and carbon credit experts, met at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week to build on early momentum and set out further ambitions.

The Initiative was launched in November 2022 at COP27 in collaboration with The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), and the UN Economic Commission for Africa, with the support of the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions.

ACMI holds a bold, long-term ambition for the African continent—to reach 300 million credits retired annually by 2030, which would unlock $6 billion in income and support 30 million jobs. By 2050, ACMI is targeting over 1.5 billion credits annually, leveraging over $120 billion and supporting over 110 million jobs.

"The world has no shortage of financial resources, scientific ingenuity, and technological wherewithal to deal with the climate crisis. What has been lacking is leadership that will marshal the resources and solutions for the parts of the world that desperately need them for the sake of the protection of nature assets and actioning a just transition that will help us all attain our 1.5 degrees ambition. ACMI is designed to create space for the public & private sectors to marshal assets to financial flows," said Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion COP 27 Presidency.

Ahead of COP28, ACMI's action programs aim to accelerate Africa's participation in the global carbon market by:

Launching activation plans for multiple countries.

Advancing market commitments with an ambition of up to $1 billion for the purchase of high-integrity African credits.

Developing projects based on new methodologies and the realities of Africa such as diesel replacement credits and biodiversity credits.

Increasing a significant volume of credits on the continent.

At COP 27, $200 million was secured in advanced market commitments from global corporates. In addition, seven African nations signed up to develop country carbon activation plans, including Burundi, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Togo. A further seven corporate buyers and seven countries will participate in the program.