Green Economy,Carbon Market Growth Crucial for Africa's Development

Africa climate change

The African Carbon Asset Development Facility (ACAD) announced seven green financing projects on 4th of november 2010, following a successful second round of fundraising for Africa's green economy, at the African Bankers' Carbon Finance and Investment Forum.

ACAD, a partnership between the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and its Risoe Center, the German Government, and Standard Bank, has convened the Forum in association with the UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA). ACAD and UNEP FI share the goal to help African financial institutions understand why and how they might get involved in the booming carbon market. The event, which is also co-sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of the Environment (BMU), European Commission and World Bank, was organized by ACAD to help African bankers learn more about carbon finance and to facilitate investment in green development projects across Africa.

The Forum will highlight the need for Public Private Partnerships that develop skills, share opportunities and unlock the huge potential of Africa's green economy as a growth driver.

"ACAD's strategy relies on deepening UNEP's engagement with local financial institutions to jointly develop local capacity, industries and markets on a sustainable basis. Through our seed funding and outreach activities, such as this Forum, we seek to empower Africa's green entrepreneurs struggling to access the early-stage finance and technical support they need to succeed," said Glenn Hodes, Senior Energy Economist at UNEP Risoe, which manages UNEP's activities related to carbon finance and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and which has a pivotal role in facilitating the participation of developing countries in the emerging carbon market.

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