The remarkable impact of Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) on businesses across the African continent has attained the recognition of Harvard Business School
HBS acclaimed the exceptional philanthropic achievements of TEF through a groundbreaking case study.
At the launching event last week in the presence of graduate students in Boston, Massachusetts, the case study marked the first of its kind on any philanthropic organization in Africa. It will delve into TEF’s unique approaches and transformative initiatives, showcasing how strategic philanthropy is driving positive change and uplifting countries and communities.
Tony Elumelu at Harvard Business School
Harvard’s move underscores TEF’s pivotal role in empowering young African entrepreneurs across all 54 African countries and positions the Foundation at the forefront of global discussions on transformative philanthropy.
The event will also highlight TEF Founder Tony Elumelu’s economic philosophy of Africapitalism, which prioritizes the private sector and entrepreneurs as catalysts for Africa’s social and economic development.
The Tony Elumelu Foundation stands as a leading philanthropy, empowering a new generation of African entrepreneurs, driving poverty eradication, catalyzing job creation, and promoting inclusive economic empowerment.
Since the launch of the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme in 2015, over 1.5 million young Africans have been trained on TEFConnect, the Foundation’s digital hub. Additionally, over USD$100 million has been disbursed in direct funding to 20,000 young African women and men, resulting in the creation of over 400,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Tony Elumelu emphasized the impact of the Tony Elumelu Foundation on African youth, stating, “TEF is creating economic hope and opportunity for African Entrepreneurs. We know that entrepreneurship is the antidote to poverty, youth unemployment, and insecurity.” He highlighted the Foundation’s role in encouraging and supporting young people, providing seed capital, training, mentoring, and setting them up to create successful businesses that generate more jobs and address challenges on the continent.
Government has officially suspended the 15 percent Value Added Tax (VAT) on domestic consumption of electricity.
Power distribution companies in the country; that is, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCO), were directed by the Ministry of Finance to implement the policy which has been unpopular and strongly opposed by stakeholders in the country, notable among them are the trade unions and business associations.
The notice of suspension of the implementation of the VAT on electricity policy was contained in a press statement issued by the Ministry of Finance last week. The suspension, according to the Ministry was to allow for extensive dialogue and also to get the buy-in of industry players and labour unions following the grave concerns raised about its impact on consumers and businesses.
“On behalf of the government, the Ministry would like to inform ECG and NEDCO to suspend the implementation of the VAT directive pending further engagements with key stakeholders including organized labour”, the statement noted.
Beginning of the year, government directed the imposition of VAT on electricity customers above the maximum consumption level specified for block charges for lifeline units, to support the country’s Medium-Term Revenue Strategy and the IMF-Supported Post-COVID-19 Program for Economic Growth (PC-PEG) with the aim to mobilize revenue.
But this was opposed by the various interest groups that viewed it as not only punitive but a poorly-thought-through directive.
Earlier reports suggested that government was considering engagements with the IMF for a consensus on the anticipated revenue shortfall for a suspension of the VAT on electricity.
“The Ministry expects that these engagements will birth innovative, robust, and inclusive approaches to bridging the existing fiscal gap, while bolstering economic resilience”, the Ministry’s release concluded.
Organized Labour had planned a nationwide demonstration on February 13, 2024, urging the government to withdraw the directive to implement the 15% VAT on residential electricity consumption.
Business operators and residential consumers are demanding from the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to publish a load-shedding timetable as the erratic power supply situation continues to worsen in recent times.
This follows after many Ghanaians expressed dissatisfaction with the ECG and the Energy Ministry for such a situation, which is a disturbing development and affecting businesses
Key players in the industry, including the IES, have raised concerns over the situation, attributing it to financial challenges. But, the energy ministry has pleaded with Ghanaians to be a little patient as it works to resolve the challenge.
“What has happened over the past few days is that some obligation owed by GNPC to WAPCo was an issue”, Deputy Energy Minister, Andrew Egyapa Mercer, has noted. “WAPCo threatened GNPC and it has made some initial payments, but it wasn’t satisfactory. We requested the Ministry of Finance to top up. We had to go through some approval processes.”
“As of yesterday [last week Wednesday] evening, the Ministry of Finance had approved a sum of US$10 million to pay for a part of that debt. So that was the hiccup that we encountered that led to the power outages we experienced in the past few days. But that has been resolved.”
However, the Deputy Minority Leader, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah has indicated that Ghana is currently grappling with “a severe case of load shedding, commonly known as ‘dumsor’”.
The situation, the former energy minister noted, “is evidently clear, with 500 MW of load being shed as of tonight, January 9, 2024”.
The Ellembelle MP observed that “Numerous areas have been plunged into darkness due to the unavailability of gas to fuel thermal plants within the Tema enclave, which can be attributed to financial constraints”.
Specifically, Mr Buah mentioned that the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) “is currently unable to fulfil its payment obligations to the West African Gas Pipeline, which is responsible for transporting gas from Takoradi to Tema for power generation”.
“You can also track the ultimate problem to the weakest link in the value chain –ECG’s inability to pay off-takers”, he explained.
“Compounding” the situation, Mr Buah added, “is the absence of a load-shedding timetable, which hampers households and businesses from planning accordingly”.
To him, the “lack of transparency and communication regarding the power outage schedule only adds to the frustration and inconvenience experienced by the affected population”.
“It is worth highlighting that even during the worst periods of dumsor in the past, the power outage never reached the 500-megawatts threshold currently being shed. Yet, the media associated with the NPP interestingly see this as no ‘dumsor’.”
“Their loud silence on the current situation is deafening”, the lawmaker criticised.
The Ghana Grid Company must, as a matter of urgency, come out with a load-shedding timetable to allow households and businesses to plan better”, he demanded.
Some Ghanaians have been complaining about the power situation on Facebook for the past three days.
Ghanaians have reacted negatively to the government’s directive requesting the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCO) to liaise with the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) “to ensure that the implementation of VAT for residential customers of electricity”.
This applies to domestic consumers above the maximum consumption level specified for block charges for lifeline units which took effect on January 1, 2024.
The directive, the ministry said is in line with Sections 35 and 37 and the First Schedule (9) of Act 870 and aligns with the relevant sections of the Value Added Tax Act of 2013 and is part of the Government’s Medium-Term Revenue Strategy and the IMF-Supported Post-COVID-19 Programme for Economic Growth (PC-PEG).
This directive has been met with strong opposition from Ghanaians with the former Board Chair of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Prof Stephen Adei, noting that, “There’s no doubt at all people will be worse off” when the government starts taxing them for power consumption.
He believes the government has misdirected its tax policy while speaking in an interview on the development.
“You’ll first focus on things that increase production and then that, in turn, will feed into your taxes”, the economist noted.
In his view, the government “should be going after the billions of uncollected property taxes” as well as all the exemptions given to some sectors such as mining.
“The mines have millions of exemptions and these are the ones we should go after rather than going after the ordinary producer and consumer when it comes to electricity”, he noted.
Also, the Executive Director of the Institute for Energy Security (IES), Nana Amoasi VII, has raised concerns that the increment will exacerbate the existing issue of power outages and will drive investors away from the sector.
“If any other sector player or investor is looking at this situation, they will advise themselves to the extent that they won’t invest in the sector because when you increase the tariff, you are increasing the burden of consumers. They may be compelled to either shy away from that power system or bypass that system by way of theft as well.”
He added, “When they bypass the system and probably resort to generated or probably renewable energy, then, of course, you are going to get excess capacity, which will come at the cost that I mentioned. You have to pay for the same. So what the government is doing is rather going to worsen the situation that we have today.”
Meanwhile, power supply is currently erratic across the country, a situation that has led Deputy Minority Leader Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah to say the country is grappling with “a severe case of load shedding, commonly known as ‘dumsor’”.
The situation, the former energy minister noted, “is evidently clear, with 500 MW of load being shed as of tonight, January 9, 2024”.
The Ellembelle MP observed in a statement, last week, that “Numerous areas have been plunged into darkness due to the unavailability of gas to fuel thermal plants within the Tema enclave, which can be attributed to financial constraints”.
Specifically, Mr Buah mentioned that the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) “is currently unable to fulfil its payment obligations to the West African Gas Pipeline, which is responsible for transporting gas from Takoradi to Tema for power generation”.
“You can also track the ultimate problem to the weakest link in the value chain – ECG’s inability to pay off-takers”, he explained.
“Compounding” the situation, Mr Buah added, “is the absence of a load-shedding timetable, which hampers households and businesses from planning accordingly”.
To him, the “lack of transparency and communication regarding the power outage schedule only adds to the frustration and inconvenience experienced by the affected population”.
“It is worth highlighting that even during the worst periods of dumsor in the past, the power outage never reached the 500-megawatts threshold currently being shed. Yet, the media associated with the NPP interestingly see this as no ‘dumsor’.”
“Their loud silence on the current situation is deafening”, the lawmaker criticised.
“The Ghana Grid Company must, as a matter of urgency, come out with a load-shedding timetable to allow households and businesses to plan better”, he demanded.
Some Ghanaians have been complaining about the power situation on Facebook for the past three days.
The Ghana Union Traders Association (GUTA) has cautioned the government against complacency despite the recent decline in inflation.
Traders, who are hardly hit with inflation surges as it erodes working capital, have called for continued vigilance and proactive measures, although, acknowledging the positive progress of inflation from 54.1% in December 2022 to 26.4% in November 2023.
The call comes at the time the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, is celebrating the collaboration between the Treasury and the Bank of Ghana which has led to the halving of inflation from a peak of 54.1% to 26.4%.
“We should not be complacent, especially when the second tranche of the IMF loan hasn’t come in. If it comes within time, we can sustain the gains we have gotten so far. We must be serious in managing our monetary business to maintain the current inflation rate,” the President of GUTA, Dr. Joseph Obeng, said in an interview last week.
“The inflation was at 54.1%, the exchange rate was very high. In the last quarter of 2022, we experienced large rates of depreciation. When the first tranche of the IMF loan of $600 million came, we experienced long-term stability of the cedi. I think that is what is doing the magic of pulling the money down. Inflation has been at 54.1%, and it’s seeing a current decline of 26.4%. Once inflation is declining, we should be seeing the effects of that in the market. Are we seeing that?”
He anticipated a lower monetary policy rate to help cushion businesses.
“We should expect the monetary policy rate to come down, along with inflation so that the cost of borrowing and other costs of doing business can come down too. Then inflation can come down to the barest minimum to help both the consuming and the trading public.”
Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta recently attributed the consistent decline in inflation to the government’s dedicated efforts in restoring macroeconomic stability.
At the Bank of Ghana’s End-of-Year Cocktail last week, Mr. Ofori-Atta said: “Together, we have strived to reset our financial architecture”.
“And despite the challenges over the last three years, I am proud that we have ‘turned the corner’ toward a more robust and transformed economy”, he added.
Mr Ofori-Atta said: “Indeed, amidst these trials, our united front in managing the Bank of Ghana’s balance sheet has been nothing short of heroic.”
“More importantly, the Ghana Statistical Services (GSS) reported that inflation has slowed down to 26.4% in November 2023 from 35.2% in October 2023”, he pointed out, adding: “In effect, the Bank and the Treasury’s collaborative efforts have halved inflation (from 54.1% in December 2022) in under 12 months”.
Mr Ofori-Atta said while it is a welcome news that prices are no longer rising as quickly, “We know many people continue to face severe cost of living pressures. So, we must stay the course to continue to get inflation back down to single digits as quickly as possible”.
He noted: “We must never forget that our work is vital not just for the present but also for the future of Ghana. And, so, though our journey is far from over, and the road ahead will require continued perseverance and unity, I am confident that we will not only prevail but also propel Ghana towards a more prosperous future”.
Mr Ofori-Atta said 2024 should be a period in which “we must continue to push boundaries, work with equanimity, and dispel any cloud of nihilism to guarantee economic freedom and social mobility for all”.
Also, the President, Nana Akufo-Addo commended the Bank of Ghana for its role as a reliable custodian of the nation’s finances, an efficient currency manager, and a vital lender of last resort.
President Akufo-Addo highlighted the BoG’s pivotal role during the COVID-19 pandemic, citing the institution’s collaboration with commercial banks to institute a GHS3 billion credit and stimulus package. This initiative aimed to rejuvenate industries, particularly in the pharmaceutical, hospitality, and manufacturing sectors, yielding positive effects on the country’s economic growth.
Recalling the challenges faced upon assuming office in 2017, President Akufo-Addo acknowledged the distressed state of the banking industry. He praised the BoG’s intervention under new leadership, emphasising the restoration of stability and sanity to prevent the collapse of the financial sector. The President noted the successful cleanup exercise, which safeguarded the funds of 4.6 million depositors and utilised GHS21 billion from government funds.
In addressing the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, President Akufo-Addo credited the BoG for playing a crucial role in restoring macroeconomic stability. He highlighted a significant drop in inflation from 54% in December 2022 to 26.4% in November 2023, as well as sustained stability in the exchange rate.
Underscoring the BoG’s support for the government’s economic diversification and transformation process, its partnership with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the implementation of corporate governance measures to prevent future bank failures, ensuring a robust banking sector.
While acknowledging the BoG’s contribution to the digitisation of the economy, emphasising the transformation of the payment system, and enhanced financial inclusion, the President called for stronger partnerships and enhanced policy coordination between the BoG and the Ministry of Finance to address current economic challenges and facilitate the desired economic transformation.
The United Bank for Africa (UBA) Ghana last week cut sod for its new state-of-the-art head office building project located at West Cantonments in Accra.
The event was graced by esteemed dignitaries, including government officials, customers of the bank, project consultants, architects, engineers, religious leaders, and prominent figures within the banking sector.
Speaking at the ceremony, Abiola Bawuah, Executive Director & CEO, of UBA Africa, noted, “This building will be more than just bricks and mortar. It’s a symbol of our long-term commitment to the Ghanaian people, a commitment to growth and prosperity.
She further reiterated that “UBA Ghana is not just building a physical structure, we are laying the foundation for enhanced financial services, innovative solutions, and impactful partnerships that will contribute to the socio-economic development of Ghana and beyond.”
Addressing the gathering, he expressed his gratitude to all customers of the bank for their unwavering support over the years, saying, “Together, we are crafting a narrative of progress and success, and I am very confident that the new UBA Ghana Head Office will stand as a beacon of excellence.”
“As we embark on this architectural venture, let us keep in mind the core values that define UBA – Enterprise, Excellence, and Execution. Our mission to be a role model for African businesses is fortified by the determination we showcase today,” says Mr. Awotwi.
Chris Ofikulu, MD of UBA Ghana and Regional CEO of UBA West Africa commented that “This is a very important event in the history of UBA Ghana as it signifies the end of our long-trudged push to owning a head office building of our own. This journey, of actualizing our Head office building, has not been without hiccups, but we thank God that we have overcome all the challenges leading to this epic milestone.”
UBA remains dedicated to providing world-class banking solutions, leveraging technology to enhance customer experiences and drive financial inclusion across Ghana. The new head office signifies the bank’s unwavering commitment to serving its customers better and fostering economic development in the communities it operates in.
The World Bank’s International Development Association is ready to disburse US$150 million loan for the West Africa Coastal Areas Resilience Investment Project 2.
The initiative aims to fortify the socio-economic resilience of coastal communities by implementing effective coastal management practices.
It aligns with the government’s commitment to diminishing the vulnerability of coastal regions and the well-being of local communities along Ghana’s coastlines.
Mr Kwaku Kwarteng, Chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament, emphasised the loan’s crucial role in addressing challenges such as tidal waves, particularly in coastal areas like Keta in the Volta Region. Additionally, the house endorsed a separate $200 million loan from the World Bank Group to finance the Ghana Tree Crop Diversification Project.
Some weeks ago, the World Bank empathised with victims of the recent flood disaster in areas along the Volta River following the spillage of excess water from the Akosombo and Kpong dams.
About 30,000 residents were displaced and their farms decimated by the flood waters.
At the 3rd Conference on Fisheries and Coastal Environment in Accra, the Operations Manager of the World Bank in Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, Ms Michelle Keane, said: “We can’t speak about flooding today without conveying the World Bank’s sincere empathy and concern for the ten thousand of people who have been impacted by the recent floods along the Volta River”.
“The World Bank would want to express its readiness to support the government in its response to this crisis”, she said.
She added: “In the longer term, developing a sustainability and risk management strategy for the Volta River and Volta Delta among other areas will be crucial to determine where it is safe for people to live and how their livelihoods can be sustained and grow along the Volta River supported by a healthy ecosystem”.
“We hope that the government and its partners will take full advantage of the $150 million approved by the World Bank for Ghana under the West Africa Coastal Areas Management Programme (WACA)”, she noted.
She said the financing is expected to become available “very soon after parliamentary approval”.
Ghana seek investment to its Energy Transition and Investment Plan (ETIP) of about US$550 billion to scale up renewable energy and introduce nuclear energy in the country’s energy mix and for the deployment of clean cooking solutions and low-carbon solutions such as Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage.
Energy Minister, Matthew Opoku Prempeh, revealed this when he addressed investors during Ghana’s Energy Day at the Ghana Pavilion at the Conference of Parties (COP28) currently underway in Dubai, UAE.
The Energy Transition Investment Plan (ETIP), he said, anticipates that the majority of the funding for the projects will come from private sector capital and de-risking instruments.
The Government of Ghana, according to the minister, will pursue policy reforms and provide a suitable environment for the execution of the energy transition projects.
“Investments are also needed for the deployment of electric vehicles to replace Internal Combustion Engines, the construction of electric and hydrogen fuel cell charging stations, the production of biofuels, the replacement of biomass industrial boilers with electric boilers and the provision of energy-efficient electrical appliances for the residential and service sectors among others,” he said.
He continued, “The realisation of the requisite capital will culminate in universal access to affordable and reliable power by 2024, economy-wide decarbonisation, socio-economic development, about 400,000 new jobs, and above all net-zero emissions in the country by 2060.”
The Manhyia South lawmaker used the opportunity to invite all investors to partner with the Government of Ghana to undertake the projects in our Energy Transition Framework to drive industrialisation and achieve our net-zero targets.
“As I said earlier, our doors are always open and I look forward to several partnerships,” he concluded.
The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, has revealed that the mining lease agreement between Ghana and Barari DV Ghana Limited for lithium extraction will be presented to Parliament for ratification early next year.
This announcement was made during a press briefing last week, where the minister addressed concerns over the lithium mining lease signed on October 20, 2023.
According to the Damongo legislator, the mining lease mandates ratification by Parliament, and failure to undergo this process would result in the annulment of the lease.
“There has been an issue of ratification of the lease. It has been raised by several people. This has never been lost on us as this is expressly provided for the mining lease granted to Barari DV Ghana Limited. Specifically, Clause 1E of the lease states ‘the mining lease is subject to ratification by Parliament in accordance with Article 2681 of the constitution and section 54 of Act 703’. ‘Upon execution of this mining lease, the Minister shall cause the mining lease to be laid in Parliament for ratification’.”
“By the very term of the lease, therefore, ratification by Parliament is a condition precedent, he said, “as an unratified mining lease confers no enforceable right, and the government has always been mindful of this decision.”
“The mining lease in question will be laid before Parliament for ratification,” he added.
For instance, a former Chief Justice of Ghana, Sophia Akuffo, has expressed the view that the recently signed lithium lease by the government lacks completeness without parliamentary ratification.
According to her legal analysis, this particular transaction should have undergone the process of submission to Parliament for approval.
“My legal view is that it is a transaction that requires ratification, it is not complete. This is a document, it is signed and sealed and delivered but it is a deal that has to be ratified by a named authority, that is the Parliament of the Republic of Ghana,” she said while speaking as a Distinguished Scholar of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) in Accra on Tuesday, November 28.
Meanwhile, the Minerals Commission responded to criticism from certain individuals regarding the lithium deal between the government of Ghana and Barari DV Ghana Limited.
In a press statement issued on Monday, December 4, the Minerals Commission pointed out that the critical statements made by some individuals stem from a lack of thorough reading of the agreement.
The statement emphasized that many concerns are based on inaccurate assumptions and unsupported assertions.
The Minerals Commission reiterated that the lithium deal is in the best interest of the nation.
The mining lease, granted for 15 years to Barari, a subsidiary of Atlantic Lithium Limited, an Australian company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange, covers an area of 42.63 km² in and around Ewoyaa in the Mfantseman Municipality of the Central Region.
The $250-million project, located in Ewoyaa, Mfantseman Municipality in the Central Region, is set to commence production by 2025.
The deal includes a 10% royalty and 13% free carried interest by the state, surpassing the existing 5% and 10%, respectively, for other mining agreements.
Barari DV Ghana Limited is also required to contribute 1% of its revenue to a community development fund for the upliftment of the mining area.
At a critical moment in the fight against climate change, the world is squandering a significant opportunity by neglecting Earth’s most important natural carbon repositories – Africa’s forests, grasslands, peatlands and mangroves. The global carbon markets offer a pragmatic way to change this course for the better, with scope to attract meaningful and much-needed finance for conservation, energy transition and climate resilience. Yet, as things stand, carbon markets are failing to deliver. Worse, they risk enabling polluting countries and industries to ignore the burden of their ‘pollution per capita’ responsibilities and justify backsliding on urgent emission reductions.
These are the findings of a positioning paper released at COP28 by the Africa Finance Corporation, which urges against complicit arrangements with external entities that undervalue Africa’s natural assets. Instead, Africa’s political and economic leadership should take a strategic approach to harness the full benefits of a viable future carbon market, which Africa must lead, according to AFC.
“The fact is the world is enticing Africa to repeat mistakes of the past,” writes Samaila Zubairu, President & CEO of AFC. “Instead of maximising economic value from our natural assets, countries are engaging in the wholesale long leases and sale of land – our valued birthright – to foreign intermediaries that hope to profit from a more appropriately priced carbon market of the future. This is akin to the resource curse of past decades.”
With average global temperatures now at least 1.1 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the planet is fast approaching the 1.5°C ceiling beyond which scientists foresee environmental catastrophe. Yet, eight years after the Paris Agreement, governments continue to fail to meet their commitments to climate action. Global greenhouse gas emissions have shot up, with the world on course for a 9% increase by 2030 from 2010 levels, according to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In place of resolve to take responsibility for per capita emissions, polluting nations are instead pivoting towards carbon offsets as a way of ‘cancelling out’ industrialised world emissions.
But while viewed by some as a climate panacea, the market for carbon offsets has become compromised by repeated scandals: conservation projects mired by evidence of exploitation, made worse by corruption; exposés of carbon offsets that do not represent any actual emission reductions; deforestation simply being moved along to regions not covered by offsets; displaced communities that see none of the proceeds from offset contracts.
The damage to market confidence from these recurring exposés is evidenced by a dramatic decline in issuance and prices of carbon credits. Although African carbon credits are among the most impacted by this negative cycle, the continent is also in a unique position to reform the carbon markets in a way that will drive trust, value, and localised benefits, AFC’s paper says. Africa’s extensive forests, grasslands, peatlands, and mangroves are some of the world’s most powerful carbon sinks, helping to mitigate global climate change and increase ecological diversity. The continent’s forests alone absorb a net 600 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, more than any forest ecosystem on Earth. This absorption capacity is equivalent to offsetting 76% of emissions from all of Africa, 21% of Europe’s, 18.5% from the US, or 4% from the whole world.
Despite its capacity to remove vast amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere, Africa accounted for just 11% of offsets issued between 2016 and 2021, with an even smaller share – only 3% – linked to the region’s natural carbon sinks. Africa should rightfully play a far bigger role in the global carbon markets that reflects its significant contribution towards mitigating the effects of climate change, according to AFC’s report.
“Instead of selling our land rights into today’s tarnished and depreciated carbon markets, we should focus on conservation and reforestation – with local actors driving the projects, the financing, the verification, and the trading,” writes Zubairu. “Our continent’s natural assets will only achieve their true value through robust mechanisms that guarantee lasting benefits delivered to local communities and governments to sustain conservation long after the initial funding is spent.”
AFC says it’s committed to take a lead role to prioritise the protection and regeneration of Africa’s carbon repositories. Through its experience of developing multi-billion-dollar projects, AFC understands what it takes to build a pipeline of bankable and de-risked carbon emissions reduction projects, said Zubairu. With its partners, AFC is one of the biggest investors in renewable energy in Africa. Its Infrastructure Climate Resilient Fund (ICRF), supported by the Green Climate Fund and the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, is focused on building resilience for Africa’s systems and physical infrastructure.
The Corporation will focus its project development expertise on driving a pipeline of bankable and sustainable carbon emissions reduction projects. It is also creating the AFC Foundation to raise knowledge and awareness among governments and communities to halt the destruction of natural carbon sinks, raise financing for their conservation, and advocate for a ban on their wholesale long-term lease or sale.
“What we know for certain is that Africa’s interaction with the global carbon markets must change,” said Zubairu. “We must take ownership of the conservation and expansion of our forests. We need to create our own carbon emissions reduction value chain with global participation that captures and retains value for Africa and the world for generations.”
The full report is available here
About AFC
AFC was established in 2007 to be the catalyst for private sector-led infrastructure investment across Africa. AFC’s approach combines specialist industry expertise with a focus on financial and technical advisory, project structuring, project development, and risk capital to address Africa’s infrastructure development needs and drive sustainable economic growth. Sixteen years on, AFC has developed a track record as the partner of choice in Africa for investing and delivering on instrumental, high-quality infrastructure assets that provide essential services in the core infrastructure sectors of power, natural resources, heavy industry, transport, and telecommunications. AFC has 42 member countries and has invested US$12.7 billion across Africa since inception.
www.africafc.org
Media Enquiries:
Yewande Thorpe
Communications
Africa Finance Corporation
Mobile +234 1 279 9654
Email: yewande.thorpe@africafc.org
