Carbon Trading in Africa: Navigating the Standardisation Minefield

Voluntary Carbon Markets (VCMs) are expected to be crucial in the global fight against climate change. However, VCMs are complex and involve a few intricate concepts and assumptions for determining the validity of projects (project validity) to assign carbon credits (CCs) to such projects. Similarly, having been awarded either removal or avoidance/reduction CCs, projects must be verified (project verification) to ensure that they are delivering the promised emissions abatement. Thus, given the multiplicity of VCM project opportunities in Africa, the role of CC validation and verification is critical to the success and credibility of VCMs on the continent. We undertake a systematic review of existing standards to appraise their applicability to carbon projects in Africa. The review considers the contextual factors that must be accounted for to ensure that the validation and verification processes provide assurance that projects awarded CCs deliver on carbon abatement targets without worsening subsisting socio-economic conditions in project locations. We opine that the third-party verification arrangements for ensuring the integrity of VCMs must involve building capacity among Africa’s project communities to help them negotiate project benefits and overcome data availability barriers.