Building the Infrastructure Behind Africa’s Carbon Markets

Building the Infrastructure Behind Africa’s Carbon Markets

A carbon credit may eventually appear in a registry as a single tradeable unit, but creating one that governments, companies and investors are prepared to recognise requires considerably more infrastructure behind it.

Project ownership has to be established. Emissions reductions or removals have to be measured and independently verified. Governments need procedures for authorisation and accounting. Registries must prevent the same reduction being claimed twice. Contracts determine who carries development risk, while financing arrangements, pricing and benefit-sharing decide how much of the eventual value remains with the project and its surrounding communities.

Across Africa, those systems are moving from policy discussions towards implementation. Rwanda has established a national carbon-market framework and is now accepting project applications under its bilateral carbon-credit agreement with Singapore. Uganda introduced national climate-change mechanism regulations in 2025. Kenya has been developing the regulatory and registry architecture required to administer carbon projects, while South Africa is considering reforms intended to clarify the legal status of credits and develop its domestic carbon-credit market.

The result is an emerging layer of financial, regulatory and technical infrastructure around African carbon projects. It is also bringing a more difficult question into focus: once a tonne of carbon has become a credible financial asset, who owns the value created around it?

That question will run through the Carbon Markets Africa Summit 2026, taking place at the Kigali Convention Centre in Rwanda from 13 to 15 October. Governments, project developers, investors, buyers and technical specialists are expected to examine the practical machinery required to move projects from concept to authorised, financed and ultimately tradeable carbon assets.

Briefing

• Carbon Markets Africa Summit 2026 takes place in Kigali, Rwanda, from 13 to 15 October.
• Rwanda and Singapore opened applications for Article 6 carbon-credit projects in January 2026.
• Eligible Singapore carbon-tax-liable companies can use qualifying international credits against up to 5% of their taxable emissions.
• Uganda introduced National Climate Change Mechanisms Regulations in 2025, while Kenya is developing further carbon-trading and registry regulations.
• Registries, verification, government authorisation, project finance and benefit-sharing are becoming core infrastructure for African carbon markets.

From Carbon Project to International Asset

The distinction between generating an emissions reduction and creating an internationally transferable carbon asset is fundamental.

Article 6 of the Paris Agreement provides mechanisms through which countries can cooperate on emissions reduction. Article 6.2 establishes accounting and reporting guidance for internationally transferred mitigation outcomes, while Article 6.4 establishes a UN mechanism for carbon crediting. The accounting rules are intended, among other things, to prevent mitigation outcomes transferred internationally from being counted towards two countries’ climate commitments simultaneously.

Rwanda’s National Carbon Market Framework, launched in 2023, covers policy, institutional governance, legal and regulatory arrangements and implementation procedures. The Rwanda Environment Management Authority acts as the country’s carbon-market regulator. Rwanda has subsequently been working to operationalise that framework, including through a two-year Article 6 readiness programme launched with the Global Green Growth Institute in March 2025. REMA acknowledged at the time that implementation had been constrained by limited awareness and capacity among public and private participants.

The bilateral arrangement with Singapore provides a practical test of the resulting machinery. The two countries signed their Implementation Agreement in May 2025 and opened applications for carbon-credit projects on 30 January 2026. Proposed projects first submit a concept note describing the activity, methodology and intended implementation. A subsequent authorisation request requires a Project Design Document and validation by a third-party auditor.

Only after authorisation, implementation and independent verification can credits proceed towards issuance and the application of the corresponding adjustments required for international transfer under Article 6.2. For project developers, this is a much longer chain than simply planting trees, installing renewable-energy equipment or capturing methane and then selling the claimed emissions reduction.

The Value Behind the Credit

A project can require substantial expenditure well before it produces a saleable credit. Feasibility studies, baseline data, project design, validation, monitoring systems, community engagement, registration and verification all precede or accompany issuance. Some nature-based projects can then require monitoring and management extending over many years.

A carbon credit may be the final product, but behind it are decisions about ownership, data, risk, pricing and who ultimately benefits. The conversations in Kigali will examine what credible participation looks like across the full carbon-market value chain.

That assessment from Emmanuelle Nicholls, Portfolio Director for CMAS, captures the commercial problem facing developers and governments. Early capital can affect ownership, future revenue commitments, pricing arrangements and the distribution of risk between developers, investors, landholders, governments and communities.

African governments are consequently doing more than opening their countries to international carbon buyers. They are developing the rules under which the underlying assets are created.

Ousmane Fall SARR, Coordinator of the West African Alliance on Carbon Markets and Climate Finance, describes the challenge in continental terms: “African countries are developing carbon markets from different starting points. Stronger African expertise and regional cooperation will be important if the continent is to contribute to the standards and market practices that determine how its projects compete, attract investment and create value.”

The ability to originate projects, measure their performance and negotiate their financing could prove as consequential as the eventual price paid for each credit.

Registries and Carbon Accounting

Registries provide the record through which projects and credits can be identified and tracked, helping authorities and market participants detect double issuance or double counting. Without reliable registry systems, a market in an intangible asset representing an emissions reduction becomes considerably harder to administer.

Kenya’s evolving framework demonstrates how detailed this process can become. Amendments to its Climate Change Act in 2023 provided a legislative framework for carbon markets, followed by the Climate Change (Carbon Markets) Regulations 2024. Further work has included proposed rules covering carbon trading and operation of a National Carbon Registry. Kenyan government documentation describes the registry as a mechanism for tracking projects, internationally transferred mitigation outcomes and Community Development Agreements.

Uganda has been constructing similar institutional capacity. Its National Climate Change (Climate Change Mechanisms) Regulations 2025 established a national regulatory framework for participation in carbon markets, while the country’s REDD+ infrastructure includes a registry intended to track forest-carbon projects. Uganda’s Ministry of Water and Environment states that issuance and transfer of carbon credits sit with its Department of Climate Change.

These systems determine whether projects can move through national approval, whether credits can be traced and whether international transfers can be reconciled with countries’ own climate commitments.

Rwanda Tests the Article 6 Model

Rwanda’s arrangement with Singapore shows how the different layers can fit together. Under Singapore’s International Carbon Credit Framework, eligible carbon credits from authorised projects in Rwanda can be used by Singapore-based companies liable for carbon tax to offset up to 5% of their taxable emissions. Both governments assess projects against their respective requirements before authorisation.

The agreement also contains provisions extending beyond the transaction itself. Singapore has committed to cancel 2% of the correspondingly adjusted credits authorised under the agreement at first issuance, meaning those units cannot subsequently be traded or counted towards a national emissions target. It has also committed to direct 5% of the value of correspondingly adjusted credits towards adaptation measures in Rwanda.

The arrangement brings together a project, national authorisation, independent validation and verification, international accounting, a corporate buyer and predetermined mechanisms for distributing part of the resulting value.

The credit may eventually be expressed as a tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent. Behind that number sits a chain of technical and legal decisions that determines whether the tonne is recognised and whether another country can legitimately account for it.

Carbon Finance Beyond Emissions

Carbon finance is being applied to activities involving conservation, agriculture, soil restoration, clean energy, waste management and other forms of land and infrastructure development. In the Chinko Conservation Area in the Central African Republic, revenue from the Chinko Carbon Project is channelled through a community fund supporting locally selected initiatives, including expansion of a medical centre in Agoumar.

Such projects bring another layer to the question of market integrity. A technically valid carbon credit does not by itself determine whether revenues are distributed effectively, whether communities receive the benefits envisaged at project design, or whether the underlying activity produces durable environmental and economic outcomes. Those issues depend on governance, contracts, land and resource rights, project management and transparent mechanisms for distributing revenue.

South Africa’s work on carbon-market reform demonstrates another side of the same problem. A National Treasury consultation published in October 2025 proposed clarifying the legal nature of carbon credits, including their status as intangible assets capable of ownership and transfer, alongside measures intended to modernise market infrastructure and encourage investment.

As markets become more sophisticated, questions that initially appear environmental begin to resemble familiar problems from finance and infrastructure: title, ownership, contractual rights, risk allocation, regulation, auditability and the reliability of the systems recording the asset.

Building African Market Capacity

The Carbon Markets Africa Summit arrives as these national systems increasingly encounter one another. Its programme covers government authorisation, buyer requirements, pricing and offtake, investment risk, early-stage finance, registries and African measurement, reporting and verification capacity.

The event is hosted by Rwanda’s Ministry of Environment, with UNDP and the African Development Bank as host organisations, the Development Bank of Southern Africa as host partner and AUDA-NEPAD as strategic institutional partner.

Rwanda’s own experience demonstrates that regulation is only part of the job. Its continuing work on Article 6 readiness reflects the need for people and organisations capable of operating the systems once they have been designed.

Measurement, reporting and verification expertise affects the ability to originate credible projects. Regulatory knowledge affects the speed with which they can be authorised. Financial expertise influences the terms on which projects obtain capital. Registries and accounting systems determine whether resulting credits can be tracked and transferred with confidence.

The physical project may be a forest, solar installation, waste facility, clean-cooking programme or agricultural scheme. The market surrounding it depends upon a less visible infrastructure of institutions, data and rules.

As African carbon markets develop, the commercial question will increasingly extend beyond how many credits the continent can produce. It will concern how much of the knowledge, financing capability, project ownership and long-term economic value behind those credits can also be built within Africa.

Key Industry Questions

1. What is Article 6 of the Paris Agreement? Article 6 provides mechanisms through which countries can cooperate on emissions reduction. Article 6.2 covers cooperative approaches involving internationally transferred mitigation outcomes, while Article 6.4 establishes a UN carbon-crediting mechanism.
2. Why are corresponding adjustments important? They provide an accounting mechanism intended to prevent internationally transferred mitigation outcomes from being counted towards both the transferring and acquiring countries’ climate targets.
3. Can Singapore companies use carbon credits generated in Rwanda? Eligible credits from projects authorised under the bilateral framework can be used by Singapore carbon-tax-liable companies to offset up to 5% of taxable emissions, subject to the applicable requirements.
4. What does a carbon registry do? A registry records and tracks carbon projects and credits. It supports transparency and helps prevent problems including double issuance and double counting.
5. Why does independent verification matter? Verification provides independent assessment that claimed emissions reductions or removals have been achieved in accordance with the relevant methodology and programme requirements.
6. Where does project finance enter the carbon-credit process? Developers can require capital well before credits are issued, including for project development, data collection, validation, implementation, monitoring and verification. The financing structure can therefore influence risk allocation and future revenues.
7. Are all African countries using the same carbon-market rules? No. National regulatory structures, approval processes and market readiness vary considerably, although international transfers under the Paris Agreement must operate within the relevant Article 6 framework.
8. Why is local MRV capacity important? Measurement, reporting and verification underpin the evidence used to demonstrate emissions reductions or removals. Strong domestic technical capacity can support project development and reduce dependence on expertise sourced entirely from outside the host country.

Strategic Takeaways

1. Carbon credits depend upon regulatory, financial and data infrastructure long before they become tradeable units.
2. Article 6 is bringing government authorisation and national carbon accounting directly into international carbon transactions.
3. Registries and MRV systems are becoming core components of national carbon-market infrastructure.
4. Early-stage finance can influence ownership, risk allocation and the eventual distribution of project revenues.
5. Building African expertise in project development, verification, finance and carbon accounting could retain more of the carbon-market value chain within the continent.