African countries must strengthen cooperation, attract investment and ensure communities receive fair returns to turn the continent’s carbon market potential into climate and economic benefits, experts have said.

The call came at the opening of the Carbon Markets Africa Summit 2026 in Kigali on Wednesday, October 14. The two-day summit brought together around 600 policymakers, investors, project developers, corporate buyers and climate finance stakeholders.

Co-organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Rwanda’s Ministry of Environment and the African Development Bank, the summit aims to strengthen African carbon markets and turn climate ambitions into investment-ready projects.

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Rwanda’s Minister for Environment, Dr Bernadette Arakwiye, said Africa had reached a turning point in deciding how carbon markets operate and whom they benefit.

"You are here because, like us, you believe that Africa’s carbon markets must be shaped by African priorities and that they must now deliver,” she told delegates.

Despite progress in regulations and agreements, she said, slowing voluntary markets, concerns over credit integrity and a widening climate finance gap demanded renewed efforts.

"These are not reasons to retreat. They are reasons to reset—and then build better,” Arakwiye said.

From policy to investment

Carbon markets generate credits from projects that reduce or remove greenhouse gas emissions. When properly regulated, they can attract private investment into renewable energy, forest conservation, clean cooking and sustainable agriculture.

However, Arakwiye said current market activity did not adequately reflect Africa’s development priorities. Forestry, land-use initiatives and improved cookstoves account for a significant share of African credits, while agriculture has generated barely one per cent of credits issued on voluntary markets over two decades.

"The smallholder farmer, who has the most to gain and much to offer, is still standing largely outside this market,” she said.

She called for greater investment in renewable energy, electric mobility, waste management, industrial decarbonisation and landscape restoration.

Strengthening Africa’s bargaining power

Dr Fatmata Lovetta Sesay, UNDP Resident Representative in Rwanda, said African countries needed stronger negotiating capacity despite progress in establishing carbon market regulations and institutions.

Following a summit session on readiness to implement Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, she called for clear registration criteria, functional carbon registries, monitoring systems and project pipelines aligned with national priorities.

"Africa is not lacking the legal framework that is required to govern how we operate in the carbon markets,” she said. "Africa is not lacking the opportunities that exist on the continent and several other places for this trading to happen.”

She urged countries to negotiate from a position of strength and called for continental discussions to improve bargaining power and ensure African countries receive fair value for their climate assets.

"This is not a race that is a sprint for countries in Africa. It&039;s a marathon,” she said, noting that countries were progressing at different speeds.

Ensuring communities benefit

Maxwell Gomera, UNDP Resident Representative in South Africa, said carbon markets must channel benefits to communities whose land and conservation efforts make projects possible.

He called for stronger community rights and transparent benefit-sharing, early-stage project financing and partnerships based on measurable results.

"A registry tracks a credit. It does not settle a land dispute,” he said, stressing the need for community consent and enforceable benefit-sharing arrangements.

Gomera urged development banks to finance project preparation, while buyers should offer longer-term purchase agreements and advance funding.

"Trust is market infrastructure, not sentiment,” he said.

He also stressed the need to recognise the benefits of landscapes, from food production and water regulation to biodiversity and carbon storage, while preventing emissions reductions from being counted or sold twice.

Rwanda seeks to diversify carbon credit projects beyond cookstoves

Rwanda launched its National Carbon Market Framework in December 2023 to establish rules for developing, authorising, trading and monitoring credits, Arakwiye said.

In May 2025, Rwanda and Singapore signed an implementation agreement under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, providing a pathway for authorised carbon credit transfers. Singapore committed to cancelling two per cent of correspondingly adjusted credits at first issuance and directing five per cent of the value of authorised credits towards adaptation measures in Rwanda.

Rwanda has registered 29 carbon market projects across forestry, agriculture, land conservation, electric mobility, waste management and renewable energy. However, improved cookstove projects account for around 87 per cent of the country’s issued credits.

The government has generated about $1.5 million (Rwf2.2 billion) from carbon credit sales.

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Arakwiye identified a shortage of technical expertise, insufficient early-stage funding and projects not yet structured for carbon finance as key obstacles. She called for African-suited methodologies, project-preparation facilities and long-term demand from buyers willing to pay fair prices.

Rwanda is also exploring whether carbon revenue could be channelled through the Rwanda Green Fund to prepare and pre-finance projects.

"Africa does not need another cycle of low prices, short contracts, and uncertain demand,” she said. "We need buyers who value high integrity, durable development outcomes, and African ownership.”

Youth encouraged to take the lead

Solomon Uwimana, a PhD student in agricultural sciences at the University of Rwanda and a member of the European Union Youth Sounding Board, urged young people to develop projects in electric mobility, agriculture, tree planting, renewable energy and sustainable farming.

"Carbon market gives an opportunity for the youth to get some money and investment,” he said.

As countries prepare for COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, next month, Arakwiye urged governments, investors and international partners to build credible, African-led markets that attract investment while protecting national interests and environmental integrity.

"Let us unite around credible, investable, and African-led carbon markets that deliver for our people and for our planet,” she said.