Perspectives and partners successfully close long-term project on linking carbon markets and climate finance in Africa

After more than seven years of strategic thinking, writing and implementing work on linking climate finance and carbon markets, we are proud to announce the successful completion of the project Linking Market Mechanisms and Climate Finance in Africa.  This ambitious 5 million Euro grant project, funded by the German International Climate Initiative, has made significant strides towards achieving greater synergies between climate finance and carbon markets. 

Here are some of the key achievements we are proud to highlight: 

• GCF Approval of two major climate finance proposals: Our team successfully developed and gained approval for two climate finance proposals for Senegal 🇸🇳 (USD 75 million for solar mini-grids) and Ethiopia 🇪🇹 (USD 45 million for solar water pumping) by the Green Climate Fund (GCF). 

• Capacity Building: We led several longstanding capacity-building efforts across Uganda, Senegal and Ethiopia and contributed to regional initiatives such as the Eastern, the West African as well as the Caribbean Alliances on Carbon Markets and Climate Finance. 

•  Knowledge Sharing: Over 20 knowledge-sharing products, including piloting studies on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement and CDM transition in African countries as well as COP debriefs and African national carbon market profiles were produced. 

•  Technical Support: Continuous technical support for the African Group of Negotiators on Article 6 negotiations, aimed at enhancing African representation and impact in the operationalisation of the Paris Agreement. 

The lessons learned and key insights from this journey were summarised in our recently published reflection note “Linking carbon markets and climate finance – Key insights from the Climate Finance Innovators project“. These insights were presented and discussed during a Brown Bag Lunch, hosted by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) and Zukunft – Umwelt – Gesellschaft (ZUG) on 2 April 2025. 

We are grateful for the many experiences and achievements gained throughout this project, and extend our sincere thanks to our partners for their collaboration:

• Climate Focus: Sandra Greiner, Anna Kovacs, Mauriz Schuck, Jean-Pierre Sfeir, Tobias Hunzai
• AERA: Alexandre Dunod, Fabrice Le Sache
•  AEE: Elhadji Mbaye Diagne
• South South North: Robi Redda, Wondwossen Sintayehu, Arsema Andargatchew 
• Robert Kelly
• Bruk Tekie
• Tesfaye Hailu 
• Martha Ntabadde  

Perspectives Team members: 

Stephan Hoch, Axel Michaelowa, Sonja Butzengeiger-Geyer, Gunnar Geyer, Dario Brescia, Luisa Serafimov, Juliana Kessler, Igor Shishlov, Marjorie Ménard, Cathrin Arenz, Kaja Weldner, Maria Eitel, Sherri Ombuya, Peris Waweru, Marc Andre Marr, Philipp Cenkowsky, Ximena Samaniego Figueroa, Aayushi Singh, Cinthya Vega, Sandra Dalfiume.

Additional resources: 

• Linking Market Mechanisms and Climate Finance in Africa
• COP28 Digest: Relevance of Key Outcomes for Carbon Market Implementation in Africa