In November 2006, then Secretary-General Kofi Annan launched the Nairobi Framework, aimed at spreading the benefits of the CDM. Since then, interest in the mechanism in Africa has grown, and with it the number of projects and hosting countries. Still, Africa accounts for less than 2 per cent of the more than 1,890 plus CDM projects registered to date in 58 countries. Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), expressed his satisfaction with the announcement.

“The world is now focused on the urgent task of negotiating a comprehensive, fair and effective climate change deal at Copenhagen in December. Meanwhile, the clean development mechanism – a clear success of the Protocol – continues to create incentive for investment in climate change mitigation and generate funds for adaptation,” said Mr. de Boer. That the private sector is anxious to see another carbon market event in Africa “is a good indication of CDM’s potential on the continent. It’s important that that potential is showcased and capitalized on, for the good of those countries that have yet to reap the full benefits of the mechanism,” he said.

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of UNEP, which is headquartered in Nairobi, said: “I am delighted that the second all-Africa Carbon Forum is being hosted here in East Africa. Kenya is a developing economy with a huge potential for carbon market projects, from the 7,000 MW-potential of geothermal whose development is now expanding up the Great Rift Valley to the emergence of big wind farms and the vast latent potential of solar.”

Success of the Nairobi Framework will depend on close collaboration between the Framework partners and the private sector, said IETA president Henry Derwent, whose association of more than 170 international companies “is excited to be bringing the Carbon Forum back to Africa.” IETA was a co-organizer of the first all-Africa Carbon Forum, in Senegal in September 2008.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Bank (WB), United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the UNFCCC secretariat have joined to implement the Nairobi Framework.

Under the CDM, projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to sustainable development can earn saleable certified emission reduction credits (CERs). Countries with a commitment under the Kyoto Protocol can use CERs to meet a part of their obligations under the Protocol.