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Friday, 17 June


Dear <<First Name>>

Rules governing the future of carbon markets were under the spotlight at the UN's climate change conference in Bonn, Germany, which concluded yesterday. But although the conference was intended primarily for negotiations on technical issues in the run-up to COP27 in Egypt this November, some divisive issues created a wedge between parties over carbon markets, stalling progress. 

Article 6 sets out the rules for voluntary international co-operation on climate action through carbon markets and non-market approaches, with Article 6.4 involving the creation of a new mechanism to trade credits. This mechanism is intended to effectively replace the Kyoto Protocol's clean development mechanism CDM – but would allow trading between all countries, where the CDM only allowed developed countries to buy credits from developing countries. 

Readers may remember that the CDM didn’t work out well for Africa, with just a tiny fraction of credits issued attributable to energy-related projects in the continent. By the time African governments were able to take advantage of the CDM, the carbon market had crashed from a high of $20 per certified emission reduction in 2008 to just $0.4 in 2017. As the price fell, so did market activity. 

Carbon markets can offer a valuable source of finance to governments and project developers, but whether negotiators can deliver on a robust and equitable system – including a way to ensure credits aren’t double-counted – will be one of the primary challenges to overcome if the talks are to succeed in November.  

Cheers 

Geoff Sinclair

Managing Director, Camco Clean Energy

Story of the week

Development Bank Ghana officially starts operations next week with a 5-year USD4 billion capital target and the aim of filling the funding gap that currently affects small and medium-sized enterprises.
Camco news

Camco is proud to be sponsoring this year’s Africa Energy Forum in Brussels, 21-24 June. Our stand is 220, so please pop by to say hi or contact us to arrange a meeting. To register for AEF, click here.
 
REPP news
 
REPP is delighted to be sponsoring ARE’s Energy Access Investment Forum, being held in Dar es Salaam from 28-30 June. Camco’s Ieva Indriunaite and Rafikh Ismail will be there, so do say hi if you are going. To register for EAIF, click here.

West Africa

Ghana: Development Bank Ghana starts operations next week (Bloomberg)
- The bank has approximately USD800 million in capital, which it intends to grow fivefold over the next five years, to lend to financial institutions which are expected to in turn give loans to SME owners at an affordable rate.

Ghana: Minister reveals country pays USD40 million for electricity per month (Ghana Web)
- Former Housing Minister Samuel Atta Akeya has lamented the cost and claims the country should consciously move towards a clean energy transition, if for no other reason than to reduce costs. 

The Gambia: Country advances on green power reform (Energy Capital and Power)
- Renewable energy currently accounts for over 52% of the country’s total consumption, thanks to factors such as legislative reform and innovative public private partnerships.

East Africa

Malawi: AfDB directors approve USD9.25 million in grants (Reinsurance)
- The bank’s board of directors have approved grants to implement the Africa Disaster Risk Financing Programme, which aims to support the country in developing solutions to climate risk.

Mauritius: Saatvik lands supply order for solar modules (Saatvik Group)
- The company has secured an order for the manufacturing and supply of 9.3MW modules for a solar farm that will be set up by BHEL, a subsidiary of the Central Electricity Board.

Southern Africa

South Africa: Article argues case to invest in Cape Town (ESI Africa)
- The piece claims that reasons to invest in the city include an enabling environment, accessibility, a talented community, a strong infrastructure and a thriving startup ecosystem.

South Africa: Minister says government is working to resolve energy challenges (AllAfrica)
- Mondli Gungubele, Minister in the Presidency, has said that the government is committed to achieving net zero by 2050, ‘moving away from fossil fuels’ and working to find solutions to meet energy requirements.

South Africa: NERSA approves registration of Lephalale solar project (Mining Review Africa)
- Cennergi welcomes the registration of its 80MW facility, which marks the first phase in decarbonising the Grootegeluk mine.

South Africa: President Ramaphosa applauded for supporting energy transition (ESI Africa)
- The South African Wind Energy Association has commended the President’s advocacy for transforming the energy sector and welcomes further reformation clarity.

South Africa: Vantage to utilise solar energy to power data centres (Afrik 21)
- The company has signed a power purchase agreement with SolarAfrica, covering the supply of 87MWp of solar power for its centres.

Africa - other

Algeria: New 200MW solar facility begins production (PV Magazine)
- The Zergoun Green Energy solar factory is located in the southern province of Ouargla and will manufacture PERC M3 modules. 

Gas: Experts warn Africa must halt gas exploration to avoid climate disaster (The Guardian)
- UN secretary general Antonio Guterres has warned that exploring for gas or oil is “delusional” and that Africa must instead embrace clean energy. 

Green finance: Green Basket Bond launches across Africa (Africa Global Funds)
- British International Investment has subscribed to the USD75 million bond, arranged by Symbiotics, to direct much-needed financing to support small-scale green projects across Africa and Asia.

Green finance: Engie Energy Access launches participatory financing platform (Afrik 21)
- The project is being implemented in partnership with the Energy Web organisation with the aim of accelerating the deployment of off-grid solar energy.

Renewables: Clean energy alone will not power Africa (African Business)
- This recent op-ed highlights how there is no one-size-fits-all solution to the continent’s energy gaps and claims gas is the least bad option to help bridge the gap in the short term.

Solar: CrossBoundary Energy Access raises USD25 million (Techcrunch)
- The Kenya-based REPP investee has secured funding from ARCH Emerging Markets Partners Limited, Band of America and Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund to finance solar powered mini-grids across the continent. 

North Africa: UN educates municipalities on climate resilience (Afrik 21)
- North African leaders were invited to Jordan to participate in training on adaptation and resilience to climate change, organised by UN-Habitat and UNEP. 

Pacific

Fiji: Minister states that climate change is a greater threat than war (Pina)
- At a recent security summit, Fiji’s Minister for Defence argued that the Pacific continent’s greatest concern is not invasion, but climate change because ‘it threatens our very hopes and dreams of prosperity’. 

Island states: Fund for climate disaster victims must be created by COP27 (Pina)
- Vulnerable island states are demanding the creation of a fund to actively respond to the losses and damages of climate impacts. 

New Zealand: Off-shore wind project progresses (OffshoreWind)
- The New Zealand Super Fund and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners have submitted a pre-activity notice to the country’s Environmental Protection Authority to deploy an offshore wind site just off of the South Taranaki coast.

Pacific: Climate crisis has made vulnerable economies poorer (RNZ)
- The recent Climate Vulnerable Economies Loss Report has found that climate-threatened nations, including the Pacific, have lost an estimated USD525 billion in damages over the last 20 years.

Rest of the world

Power generation: Article explores how predictive analytics can cut productive risks (ESI Africa)
- Industry expert explains that, in a time when resilience and reliability are ‘more important than ever’, predictive analytics can provide many operational benefits. 

Solar: Off-grid solar attracted record levels of investment last year (PV Tech)
- According to a recent GOGLA report, investment in the sector hit USD450 million in 2021, representing a return to pre-pandemic growth levels. 

Wind power: Vattenfall recycle turbine blades (renews.biz)
- As part of the Swedish company’s target to recycle all dismantled blades by 2030, it has been announced that blades from their Irene Vorrink farm will be used to make skis, snowboards and construction materials for solar plants.

Report: Green energy ‘stagnates’ whilst fossil fuels are more popular than ever (BBC)
- The Renewables 2022 Global Status Report states that the share of wind and solar in the world’s energy mix has seen minimal increase over the last 10 years, whilst fossil fuel use has reached record highs. 

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