eBusiness Weekly
Zimbabwe seeks to establish itself as Africa’s carbon credit trading hub with the launch of the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange and a pan-African carbon credit register.
The country aims to capitalize on its position as the 12th largest producer of offsets globally, with plans to trade carbon credits on the newly established exchange.
Zimbabwe’s government intends to allocate a portion of carbon-credit program funds to the government and local investors, aiming to retain revenues within the country and regulate the trade for increased transparency and control.
According to a pamphlet from the organizers of a state-backed conference, the Africa Voluntary Carbon Markets Forum, scheduled from July 3-9 in the resort of Victoria Falls, the country intends to register projects generating the offsets on a carbon registry at its dollar-denominated Victoria Falls Stock Exchange.
In retrospect, Zimbabwe is attempting to become Africa’s carbon credit trading hub, as seen on Bloomberg, an American-based business news platform.
“The forum aims to create a pan-African focused register of carbon credits to be traded on the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange,” the pamphlet sent to Bloomberg on Wednesday said.
“A key highlight of the forum will be the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between key stakeholders to establish the Pan-African Voluntary Carbon Credit Register and Victoria Falls Stock Exchange Carbon Market.”
Attendees and speakers from Ethiopia, Uganda, and Kenya have been confirmed, according to the announcement. The Victoria Falls Stock Exchange intends to begin trading in carbon credits by September, hoping to capitalize on significant changes in how the securities will be produced in the country.
Zimbabwe’s government declared last week that half of all carbon-credit program money will henceforth go to the state, with at least 20 percent going to local investors.
All initiatives must be registered with the state, it said, adding that the uncontrolled nature of the trade has resulted in the majority of the revenues leaving the nation.
The Zimbabwean government’s statement roiled the US$2 billion worldwide market for offsets, which are purchased by greenhouse gas producers to compensate for their emissions.
The Court emphasized that unexpected instructions from governments arguing that they should gain more from ventures on their jurisdiction might risk project viability.
Each carbon credit is a ton of carbon dioxide equivalent removed from or prevented from entering the atmosphere.
In a previous interview, the exchange’s chief executive officer, Justin Bgoni, stated that it will begin trading in securities sanctioned by the Zimbabwean government in September.
According to Bloomberg, the southern African country is the world’s 12th largest producer of offsets, with 4,2 million credits generated from 30 registered projects last year.
The country’s largest project, encompassing a 785 000-hectare (1.94 million-acre) stretch of forest in northern Kariba, is run in part by the South Pole, the world’s foremost seller of offsets—Business Insider
