By: Aceweek

African Energy Week (AEW) 2025: Invest in African Energies will host key players from across Africa’s carbon market ecosystem, with Heather McEwan, Head of Africa and Middle East at Verra; Mostafa Hawas, Senior Sustainability and Carbon Market Specialist at the Egyptian Exchange (EGX); and Paul Muthaura, CEO of the African Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI) confirmed as speakers. Their participation reflects the growing momentum to scale credible, inclusive and transparent carbon markets that support Africa’s sustainable development goals.

Verra, the global standard-setting body behind the Verified Carbon Standard, continues to expand its footprint across the continent. In April 2025, the company registered West Africa’s first ICVCM-approved carbon credit project, pioneering the adoption of its VM0047 methodology to restore degraded land in Burkina Faso. The previous month, South Africa’s AgriCarbon became the first initiative in Africa to achieve registration and carbon credit issuance under Verra’s VM0042 Agricultural Land Management methodology. By scaling nature-based solutions alongside emissions-reduction strategies in hard-to-abate sectors like oil and gas, Verra is helping to integrate carbon markets directly into Africa’s broader energy transition.

In Egypt, where EGX launched Africa’s first regulated voluntary carbon trading market in 2024, the company is executing its initial carbon credit trades and laying the foundation for transparent, scalable and financially accountable carbon pricing mechanisms. Complemented by capacity-building programs for brokers and ESG professionals, AfricarbonX offers a practical model for how exchanges can integrate carbon into mainstream finance ecosystems. For Africa and the Middle East, carbon could emerge as a major asset class in the next decade, unlocking new revenue streams for governments and companies while accelerating low-carbon investments across energy and industrial sectors.

Meanwhile, ACMI – launched at COP27 – is catalyzing carbon finance across the continent by promoting integrity, policy coherence and investment enablers. Working with the African Union and the African Development Bank, ACMI supports countries such as Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, Malawi, Ghana and Nigeria in building robust carbon frameworks and aligning them with international markets.

“Africa’s carbon market is at a tipping point. The rise of robust standards, regulated trading platforms and continental coordination models positions the sector to deliver climate and development returns at scale,” said NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber. “AEW 2025 provides the ideal venue for industry actors to drive forward these efforts, forging the high-impact, high-integrity systems Africa needs.”

AEW 2025: Invest in African Energies will provide a crucial platform for stakeholders to align on advancing carbon finance, strengthening market integrity and driving inclusive climate solutions to support Africa’s low-carbon future. By placing carbon markets at the center of Africa’s energy and industrial transition, the event will highlight how innovative financing, regulatory leadership and project development can position the continent as both a global supplier of energy and a leader in sustainable growth.