(Addis
Ababa, 18 April 2012) – The 4th Africa Carbon Forum (ACF), this year
in Addis Ababa, opened its doors today to over 1,000 registered participants from
across the globe to foster a discussion on climate change and carbon finance in
Africa.
The
message resonating this year from Addis is that Africa represents a golden
opportunity for a green future.
“The
vast potential represented by African countries in the fight against climate
change cannot be underestimated,” said Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). “The Africa Carbon Forum is
where potential projects and developers and funders can meet, exchange ideas,
and – it is hoped – take the concrete steps toward greening Africa’s future.”
This
three-day forum has been described by participants of previous ACFs as “the one ‘unmissable’ event for doing carbon
business in Africa.” ACF’s aim is to share knowledge on carbon markets and
green technologies in Africa. The
conference includes presentations by experts in the field as well as workshops that
will allow for a dialogue among policymakers, project developers, and investors
on topics such as the future of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) in Africa,
climate-smart agriculture, public–private partnerships, and project funding on
the continent.
Africa
has enormous potential for sustainable, climate-friendly development, with an
abundance of renewable energy resources to satisfy future energy needs. Despite
this, Africa continues to face enormous obstacles to investment and lags behind
other parts of the world in taking advantage of carbon finance to develop
climate friendly projects and to encourage the transfer of cutting edge
technologies and know-how.
It
is a continent that has the potential to make a significant impact on mitigating
climate change through its extensive forest resources. To achieve this, further
investment needs to be facilitated for low carbon projects. CDM is in the
process of standardization to simplify rules for low income countries. These
topics, among others, will be discussed at the Africa Carbon Forum.
The
Africa Carbon Forum is held under the Nairobi Framework, an initiative launched
to help developing countries, particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa, to
increase their participation in the CDM.
The
organizing partners of this year’s Africa Carbon Forum include the African
Development Bank, the African
Climate Policy Centre, the International Emissions Trading
Association (IETA), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) and its UNEP Risø Centre, United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the World Bank
and its World Bank Institute. The Forum will also be supported by the Ethiopian
Environmental Protection Agency.
About
the CDM
The
CDM allows emission reduction projects in developing countries to earn
certified emission reductions (CERs), each equivalent to one tonne of CO2.
CERs can be traded, and used by industrialized countries to meet a part of
their emission reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol. The CDM assists
countries in achieving sustainable development and emission reductions, while
giving industrialized countries some flexibility in how they meet their
emission targets.
For more information:
Press
contact: Francois Sammut, email: francois.sammut@carbonlimits.no
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