The document discusses the creation of the Africa Carbon Exchange (ACX) to increase Africa's participation in the global carbon trade market. The ACX will function as an electronic trading platform for carbon credits and provide information, education and training on carbon markets. Participants in the exchange will include carbon brokers, major buyers and sellers, project consultants, and regulatory agencies. The goals of the ACX are to promote ethical carbon trading practices, position Kenya as a carbon trade hub for Africa, and increase developing countries' access to carbon market financing to support population pressures and sustainable development. Challenges to growing Africa's carbon market include lack of government support, low private sector awareness, and lack of project capacity. The ACX will address these by

1. Increasing Africa’s Share of the Global Carbon Trade
& Mitigating Population Pressures
Tsuma Charo

2. What is a Carbon Exchange?
What Happens at the Exchange?
Participants at the Exchange

3. An exchange is a marketplace in which securities, commodities,
derivatives and other financial instruments are traded.
The core function of an exchange - such as a stock exchange is to
ensure fair and orderly trading, as well as efficient dissemination of
price information for any products traded on that exchange.
Exchanges give companies, governments and other groups a platform
to transact their products.
An exchange may be a physical location where traders meet to conduct
business or an electronic platform.
A carbon trading exchange uniquely deals with the Carbon Credits
business

4. Trading of environmental commodities (Electronic
trading platform)
Mechanism to disseminate information on available
and proposed carbon projects
Promotion of the Concept
Education and Training of market participants
Forum to exchange views on this nascent industry
Interactive forum with Governments and Agencies
formulating policy and regulating its implementation
on climate issues

5. Trading Members (carbon brokers)
Major Sellers and Buyers
Carbon Project Consultants
Carbon Project Financiers
Accreditation and regulatory agencies, etc
Participants will be requested to register their interest
in the various categories

6. Increase Kenya’s participation in Global Carbon Forum
Promote Integrity and Ethics in the carbon trade
Positioning Kenya as Africa’s Carbon Trade Hub
Fill the gap in market place for environmental
derivatives
Increase Africa’s share of Clean Development
Mechanism revenues.

7. Lack of government initiatives to support the sector
Low awareness in the private sector about opportunities provided by
carbon markets
Lack of human resource capacity in government and private sector
High transaction costs
Bureaucracy and complexity of the CDM
Lack of high quality projects in the continent
Non-participation of the traditional financial sector like banks, insurance
companies and pension funds

8. ACX will lobby governments through their regional economic blocs
like COMESA to ensure the world gets a successor to the Kyoto
Protocol during the COP in Durban South Africa this year
The exchange will work with governments across Africa to create
awareness on the available opportunities in carbon markets and other
multilateral channels
ACX will provide support to projects at early stages through
development to issuance of credits and trading
The exchange has created a convergence of investment banking,
stocks and carbon markets to enable project owners enjoy synergies of
the environmental and money markets to get their projects off the
ground

9. The ACX is accepting membership into various categories
which are not exclusive
Sellers of credits
Buyers of credits
Spots or futures
Service Providers
Executive Carbon Training Courses

10. Private Entities
Business enterprises that have interest in carbon trade
Government entities
Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, National Environmental management
Authority, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Energy
Multi-Laterals
World Bank, AfDB
European Union
International Emissions Trading Association
Australia Carbon Exchange
EU-ETS
UNFCCC

11. CDM/Voluntary carbon markets create a flow of
finance and technology to developing countries where
population pressure on resources is highest
Population in big developing countries like will follow
a cleaner growth path under Kyoto Protocol
Waste lands will be reclaimed through AFOLU
Population stressed lands will be enriched through Plan
Vivo
REDD and A/R will reverse desertification
Transparency will create faster benefits

12. Tsuma Charo
CEO
Africa Carbon Exchange
charo@africacarbonexchange.com
0733-385868