Jeune Afrique : Djibouti’s Sovereign Carbon Initiative: A Model for African Climate Financing

« 𝐃𝐣𝐢𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐢 𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 […]  and for the past two years has been progressively deploying the Africa Sovereign Carbon Registry Foundation, 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐄𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 (𝐄𝐔-𝐄𝐓𝐒)”– Jeune Afrique

The idea of creating the continent’s first Sovereign Carbon Initiative is said to have germinated on the plane that brought Ismaïl Omar Guelleh back from COP27 in November 2022.

From this intuition came a concrete initiative: Djibouti’s establishment of a 𝐬𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 $𝟏𝟕 𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐎₂ applied to ships and aircraft in transit.

This mechanism ensures that the funds collected remain under national governance and are reinvested into priority projects for energy transition and climate adaptation within the national territory. It illustrates the ability of African states to turn climate regulation into a lever for sovereign financing.
As Jeune Afrique notes, Djibouti’s initiative is already inspiring other countries: 𝐆𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐒𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐨𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐆𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐚 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 “𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐫, 𝐌𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐮𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐚 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞,” 𝐚𝐧𝐝 “𝐄𝐠𝐲𝐩𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐜𝐨 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬.”

Africa Sovereign Carbon Registry Foundation promotes a 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥 of Sovereign Carbon Initiatives, aligned with international standards and agreements, and a « pro-business » approach.

👉 “𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐨 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲’𝐬 𝐩𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤,” as the International Maritime Organization seeks to establish a global carbon pricing mechanism for the maritime sector starting in 2030, revenues which would then be collected and managed by… the industry itself. “𝐀 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞, 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞”: “𝐁𝐞𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬.”