Afarinick, Ghana’s foremost leader in landscape restoration and farm management, CJ Commodities, a licensed Ghanaian cocoa buying company with a 10% market share in the 2024/25 season, and Oman Carbon, a pan-African Carbon Project Developer, on Thursday August 28, 2025 have announced the signing of a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the Africa–Singapore Business Forum (ASBF) 2025.
The agreement launches four scalable carbon projects: agroforestry, clean water, clean cook stoves, and biochar, which are embedded directly within Ghana’s cocoa value chain.
Together, the three partners are positioning Ghana’s cocoa sector as a new frontier for high-integrity, Paris (climate change agreement)-aligned carbon assets.
“This MoU signals the maturation of Africa’s carbon markets,” said Kwabena Boamah, Director of Oman Carbon. “By structuring climate-smart cocoa projects under internationally recognized carbon methodologies, we are delivering measurable and tradeable credits at scale aligned with both investor expectations and community needs.
“Cocoa is the backbone of Ghana’s economy, but its long-term sustainability depends on climate resilience,” said Joe Forson, CEO of CJ Commodities and Afarninick.
“By embedding carbon finance into our vertically integrated operations, we are proving that cocoa can generate both export revenues and high-quality, verified carbon credits.”
Over the next 10 years, the projects are expected to generate: 4.0 million tCO₂e removals → ≈ US$50–80M. Oman Carbon will lead project structuring, utilizing its partner ecosystem for Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) and carbon market placement.
This ensures that every tonne of CO₂ reduced or removed is tracked across its lifecycle, from capture to credit issuance. This provides investors with complete transparency, traceability, and third-party certification.
The signing at ASBF 2025 in Singapore underscores the strategic convergence of African natural capital with Asian financial markets.
The Forum’s theme, “Bridging Capabilities, Charting Sustainable Growth,” captures the essence of the partnership: to unlock scalable climate investment opportunities in Africa’s agricultural backbone.
Singapore’s Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, Grace Fu, urged African and Asian partners to strengthen cooperation on climate action and food security, emphasizing that technology and innovation are crucial for building resilient economies.
She welcomed cross-border partnerships that align environmental objectives with sustainable development.
Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama highlighted Ghana’s role as a gateway for Singaporean firms into Africa, noting that Africa–Singapore trade increased by 50% between 2020 and 2024 to nearly US$14 billion.
President Mahama stressed the need for reforms in the global financial system to close Africa’s financing gap and invited Singaporean businesses to explore opportunities in logistics, agribusiness, renewable energy, digital services, and advanced manufacturing.
The partnerships were signed as part of this broader Ghana–Singapore collaboration, highlighting growing investor confidence in Ghana’s green economy.
For international buyers and investors, the Afarinick–CJ–Oman Carbon partnership offers:
•Diversified carbon asset classes (agroforestry, water, cookstoves, biochar).
•High-integrity credits under VCS methodologies, with digital MRV for transparency.
•Scalability across Ghana’s cocoa belt, engaging hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers.
•Risk-mitigated impact through vertical integration, local execution, and global market access.
“This is more than a sustainability initiative; it is an investable platform,” said Joe Forson, CEO of CJ Commodities and Afarinick.
“By aligning carbon markets with Ghana’s most strategic export crop, we are creating long-term value for farmers, investors, and the climate system alike.”
This agreement positions Ghana as a trusted hub for high-integrity carbon projects in Africa. It signals the arrival of cocoa as a climate finance asset class.
