Africa seeks pathways into untapped carbon trade market

Preventing these risks and involving the public and private sector in projects is seen as key in boosting investor confidence.

But even as the continent lays the groundwork for future carbon trade, fears abound over its viability.

The Kyoto protocol lapses at the end of next year.

A new deal to replace it has proved elusive, despite several international conferences.

The meeting in Copenhagen, last year, failed to reach a legally binding agreement.

The impasse has been attributed to China and US, the top polluters in the world in that order.

According to analysts, China has grown tremendously in the recent past and agreeing to carbon emission caps will slow its bid to catch up with its rivals in the western world economically.

“The main fear in China is that carbon caps will interfere with its development agenda,” Oduol said.

The US, on the other hand, fears that agreeing to carbon caps will result in a slippery slope towards ceding its global economic dominance to China, besides worsening the domestic economic problems set off by the financial crisis.

Jane Watiri of the Green Earth Trust, which is helping organisations design carbon market projects and guide them how to earn from those projects, said there is a huge pool of investors ready to finance viable projects that make business sense.

“From our experience, financing a carbon trading project is not a problem. The only problem is getting a project that is viable or a project proposal that makes business sense,” said Ms Watiri.

Mr Charo says African countries should isolate themselves from China and other climate hard-liners at the international level.

Last month, Yu Qingtai, China’s special representative on Climate Change Negotiations, said there is little hope of reaching an agreement on how to tackle global warming.

“There may be some adjustments and shifts in the positions and tactics of the various sides, but I personally believe that on some core issues, the positions of the major parties will not undergo any substantive changes,” he was quoted by Reuters at a meeting in Beijing on China’s climate change policies.

Another round of climate talks is due in December in Mexico to build on the Copenhagen process.