CARBON MARKETS: HIGH-LEVEL POLICY DIALOGUE IN ZAMBIA
At the high-level policy dialogue, political decision makers and stakeholders from Zambia, Kenya – serving as Chair of the African Group of Negotiators – and Senegal exchanged their experiences on national carbon market frameworks and explored possible routes for enhanced collaboration between the sub-Saharan countries. The dialogue focused on the role of carbon markets in the achievement of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) as well as the key barriers perceived and the implications for carbon markets under the Paris Agreement.
Countries discussed their visions and strategies for using carbon finance to fuel their low carbon development. The meeting served also to discuss strategies to strengthen regional collaboration between Southern, West and East Africa avoiding to a race to the bottom. Participants also raised their voice to call for the creation of a clear demand for emission reduction certificates without double counting. The event also included a bilateral meeting between high-level officials from Zambia and Germany, which is the funding partner country of the SPAR6C program and also supported the event this week.
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On the photo: Stefan Wenzel, German Parliamentary State Secretary of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action attended the high-level policy dialogue (second from left).
"We have been generously supported by the German government and have begun the work on institutionalization of a governance framework and supporting structures for Article 6 transactions. Through this initiative, we will equally be improving our data capacities and strategy direction for the achievement of our Nationally Determined Contributions", Zambian Minister for Green Economy and Environment Mike Mposha said. Germany was represented by prominent delegates of the German government – among them Bärbel Höhn, Energy Commissioner for Africa and Stefan Wenzel, Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.
Zambia as the host country for the conference currently faces challenges due to recent droughts that affect farmer’s as well as the power sector, which already suffers from a gap of supply, as Dr Douty Chibamba, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Green Economy and Environment (MGEE), pointed out at the policy dialogue. He emphasized that his country therefore has to explore photovoltaics as well as wind and geothermal energy sources. "What this means for Zambia, is that we now have a $10 Billion US Dollar investment challenge over the next decade. It is for this reason that Zambia is considering emission trading as a co-financing source to address such challenges", Dr Chibamba said.
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On the photo: Exchanging experiences on national carbon market frameworks and explored possible routes for enhanced collaboration: Dr Pacifica Achieng Kenya, Mr Ephraim Shitima MGEE Zambia, Dr Ali Mohamed Kenya, Mr El hadji Mbaye M. Diagne Senegal, Mr Alick Muvundika NISIR Zambia.
SPAR6C aims to catalyze investment in greenhouse emissions reductions by supporting its partners to enable transactions of Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs) as allowed under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which was signed by 197 countries in 2015, representing a historic global effort to combat climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Over the past two years, Zambia has released its carbon market policy framework and is in the process of developing several mitigation activities with the support of SPAR6C. Only last week, Zambia’s MGEE and the Swedish Energy Agency signed a Memorandum of Understanding as a first step towards a potential bilateral agreement on climate change cooperation under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.
The policy dialogue was organized by SPAR6C. SPAR6C is funded by the Federal Republic of Germany through the International Climate Initiative. The Zambian work stream is implemented by GFA Consulting Group with support of the UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre. The SPAR6C program including interventions in Pakistan, Thailand and Columbia is led by the Global Green Growth Institute.
Fore more information, read the press release here.
