Carbon markets Africa: Malawi Learns from Ghana

Malawi dispatched a high-powered delegation to Accra on 8 May 2026. Patricia Wiskies, Minister of Natural Resources, led the team. She praised Ghana’s progress in building functional carbon market infrastructure. Ghana, with UNDP support, has established national authorization systems, institutional arrangements, and safeguards to support operational carbon market frameworks under Article 6. These tools support Article 6 mechanisms under the Paris Agreement.

Delegation Targets Ghana’s Carbon Framework

Wiskies stressed practical outcomes. Her team sought details on institutional arrangements, legal frameworks, and authorisation systems. Registry operations drew particular attention. Investor engagement models and benefit-sharing structures were also high on the agenda. Malawi aims to balance investor confidence with national priorities, including its nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement.

Ghana‘s Minister of State for Climate Change and Sustainability, Issifu Seidu, has highlighted Ghana’s advanced carbon market projects. The visit strengthens South-South ties and builds institutional capacity across the continent.

Waste Management Joins Climate Talks

Discussions extended beyond carbon markets. Waste management and single-use plastics featured prominently. Issifu described these as central to sustainability goals. They support circular economies and responsible production practices.

The United Nations Development Programme facilitated engagements and supports Ghana’s carbon market framework.

Malawi views carbon markets as direct development instruments. They can fund sustainable agriculture, forestry, clean cooking, and renewable energy. Waste management initiatives create employment. Communities gain climate resilience. African nations face among the highest climate risks globally. These markets channel finance precisely to those most affected.

Ghana’s track record of active mitigation projects has attracted carbon credit buyers. Malawi’s push signals the emergence of new markets. Green bonds and carbon credits are expanding. Deals in credits and sustainability projects promise returns in Africa’s growing green finance space.

Investors and policymakers should watch for Malawi’s first formal carbon framework announcements, and for bilateral Article 6 agreements between the two countries that could set a template for broader intra-African climate finance deals.

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