From clean energy to climate-smart agriculture, the green transition in Africa will require trillions of dollars.This transformation is essential, yet it cannot be funded by governments alone.

In southern Zambia, Wandipa and Wakwe plant mango saplings, an investment not just in fruit, but in their children’s school fees, cleaner air and prospects. 

Across Africa, communities are taking action, from farmers and women’s cooperatives to solar entrepreneurs and youth innovators. What they often lack is not ambition, but access to finance. This is where carbon markets come in as real-world engines to catalyze channeling of private and public climate finance into projects that also advance the SDGs.

A new currency for change

At its simplest, a carbon market puts value on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Projects that reduce or remove emissions, like planting trees, switching to clean cookstoves or building solar mini-grids, can earn carbon credits. These credits are then sold to governments or companies seeking to offset their own emissions.

What is often overlooked is that each credit earned doesn’t just cut carbon, it carries a development dividend. It brings a meal to the table, light to a classroom, medicine to a clinic or a woman’s voice into the economy.

Done right, carbon markets can turn climate action into a lifeline for those who’ve contributed the least to the climate crisis but who live with its worst effects.

From farms to forests: climate action that feeds families 

In Kenya’s Embu and Tharaka Nithi counties, smallholder farmers began interplanting fruit and nitrogen-fixing trees. The result? Better soil, higher yields and a diversified income. Over five years, these farmers also generated more than 150,000 carbon credits.

In southern Ethiopia, the Humbo project restored 2,700 hectares of degraded land. Maize harvests tripled. By 2015, the community had sold 200,000 carbon credits, enough to transform entire livelihoods.

These outcomes deliver environmental gains and tangible benefits for communities:

• More food on the table
• More income in women’s hands
• More resilience in the face of drought

These are direct contributions towards achieving SDGs 2, 13 and 15.

Empowering women with clean energy 

Contributing to SDGs 3, 7 & 8, in rural Uganda, households are switching to clean-burning stoves and solar lighting, reducing indoor pollution and lowering energy costs.

Across East Africa, clean cookstoves and home solar kits are replacing harmful energy systems. In Ghana, Aminatu Hakim halved her fuel bills and reduced indoor smoke by 50 percent, thanks to a national improved cookstove project. Ghana became the first African country to sell carbon credits internationally under the Paris Agreement’s article 6.2.

Carbon revenue supports initiatives that empower women and strengthen communities:

• Women’s cooperatives
• Literacy classes
• Health campaigns
• Clean energy skills training

Greener cities, healthier streets 

Kenya’s carbon trade pilot with Sweden introduced five electric buses in Nairobi, cutting 12,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually. Revenue helped pay for driver training and bus-stop upgrades in underserved areas.

Meanwhile in Cairo, scrapping 40,000 old taxis reduced 130,000 tonnes of emissions and created jobs through recycling and new vehicle production.

This is what smart urban carbon action looks like:

• Cleaner air
• Green jobs
• More inclusive mobility

This is how Carbon Markets are contributing to SDGs 9 and 11.

Nature as infrastructure: restoring ecosystems, building resilience 

SDGs 13 and 15 are in focus in coastal Kenya, where the community of Gazi Bay protects 600 hectares of mangroves through the Mikoko Pamoja project. Each year, the mangroves absorb 6,000 tonnes of CO₂, and the income supports school fees, fisheries and clean water access.

In Madagascar, the Ankeniheny-Zahamena rainforest corridor is now protected across 350,000 hectares. It has already issued over 4 million credits, funding rural clinics, classrooms and women’s savings groups.

In Mozambique and Senegal, restoring mangroves sequesters carbon and shields fishing communities from cyclones and storm surges.

Africa is moving forward

Many African countries are already shaping the future of carbon markets:

• Ghana has completed trades with Singapore and Sweden, supported by a national carbon registry.
• Rwanda is piloting its own cap-and-trade system and will launch a public registry in 2025.
• Kenya enshrined carbon markets in its Climate Change Act, linking them to e-mobility and waste-to-energy solutions.
• Zambia is drafting a national carbon credit law and building its own digital registry.

But there is work to do. Just nine African countries have full legal frameworks in place. Many still lack clear rules on land rights, digital monitoring systems and benefit-sharing. Without these, carbon markets risk leaving the grassroots behind.

UNDP’s role: making markets work for people

Through its Climate Promise, UNDP is supporting several countries in Africa, to unlock carbon markets for sustainable development. Our support includes:

• Identifying high-quality projects that advance multiple SDGs
• Establishing transparent registries and rules under Article 6
• Training government and community actors in MRV systems
• Ensuring that women, youth and Indigenous Peoples are included and empowered

UNDP’s Nature-Climate-Development Nexus approach ensures that carbon credits go beyond emissions - they build healthier, more resilient societies.

The road ahead: from credits to community impact

Africa’s carbon markets can raise up to US$6 billion by 2030, creating 30 million green jobs, according to the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative. But this vision demands action, from all of us:

• Governments must build inclusive, high-integrity legal frameworks.
• Project developers must prioritize community co-design and transparency.
• Private sector must go beyond offsetting and invest in real solutions.
• Partners must provide seed capital, technical know-how and policy support.

And we must fix the pricing imbalance. Carbon credits from African projects often sell for far less than their global counterparts, undervaluing both the climate impact and the community co-benefits they deliver.

From emissions to empowerment

Carbon markets are not just about tons of CO₂. They’re about children in school, mothers breathing clean air, fishermen protected from rising seas and entrepreneurs building a greener tomorrow.

Let’s stop seeing carbon as a problem to trade and start seeing it as a pathway to possibility. Let’s turn carbon into opportunity, one credit, one community, one bold step at a time, towards the achievement of SDGs across Africa.

About the Author

Excellent Hachileka is a Climate Specialist at UNDP, with over 25 years of experience in climate change policy, carbon markets, and sustainable development. He supports governments across Africa and globally in designing transparent, flexible, and robust climate strategies. His work helps shape international climate negotiations and supports countries in building resilient, low-carbon sustainable futures