First UNFCCC Focal Point and Stakeholder Meeting on the Establishment of the Southern Africa Alliance on Carbon Markets and Climate Finance | Events | United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

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Background

The 2023 Global Stocktake reaffirmed the need to include market-based emission reduction activities in the global effort reach the Paris Agreement 1.5-degree Celsius goal. Article 6 of the Paris Agreement encourages a market-based approach through voluntary cooperation of parties as they strive to meet their Nationally Determined Contributions, Long Term Low Emission Development Strategies and the other climate change mitigation targets. The new market mechanism seeks to ensure that the challenges encountered by the Clean Development Mechanism and Joint Implementation under the Kyoto Protocol are not repeated under the Paris Agreement implementation arrangements. Article 6 requires the active participation of host parties, requires them to set up the relevant institutions and requires new infrastructure to ensure integrity of the units produced. It also mandates measurement of sustainable development benefits of projects and programmes in the host country.

African countries have lived similar experiences with regards to market participation under the Kyoto Protocol and are likely to face the same challenges and be presented with the same opportunities under the new market mechanism. Past challenges include limited technical expertise in the development of project and programmes, limited policy and political awareness, lack of the necessary policy and regulatory frameworks to encourage market participation and lack of dedicated institutions for engagement with stakeholders in the market space. As these challenges are regional in nature, stakeholders are creating regional groupings to tackle matters related to capacity building, share experiences and make efficient use of resources available for enhanced market participation. This has seen the formation of the West Africa Alliance on Carbon Markets and Climate Finance and the East Africa Alliance on Carbon Markets and Climate Finance through which development partners and the UNFCCC have been channelling financial and technical assistance. This has seen increasing calls for the formation of the Southern Africa Alliance to cover countries within the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region not catered for by the other organisations.

Objectives of the Workshop

The objectives of the workshop are to:

Provide a platform for UNFCCC focal points and technical experts from the southern African region to discuss the formation of the Southern Africa Alliance and provide it with strategic orientation.
Discuss potential institutional and governance arrangement best suited for such an alliance and its working modalities.
Consider a draft constitution for the Alliance.

Expected deliverable

The workshop is expected to come up with comprehensive documentation on the formation of the Southern Africa Alliance on Carbon Markets and Climate Finance. The documentation will include the vision and strategic goals of the Alliance, proposed institutional and governance arrangement, proposed working modalities and proposed constitution. The purpose of the documentation will be to solicit participation of stakeholders including in the provision of financial support and technical expertise.

Participants

The following participants are expected to participate in the workshop:

National focal points from the SADC region: Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe (Tanzania excluded as it is already part of East Africa Alliance).
Article 6 technical experts from Southern Africa Region plus relevant facilitators from the West and East African Alliances.
Development Partners and Regional Development Banks.
UNFCCC Regional Collaboration Centres