The Mozambican government, through the Minister of Land and Environment, Ivete Maibaze, revealed last week that the country has around 45 million carbon credits ready to be traded.
Speaking during the preparatory meeting for COP28, she assured that “the survey carried out by our teams shows that we have around 45 million carbon credits available to be negotiated with all interested parties to complement the agenda for commercialising the product”.
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Maibaze explained that in order to exploit the potential of the carbon market, Mozambique “became a member of the African Carbon Markets Initiative and began drawing up a Carbon Market Activation Plan, with a working group prioritising the production of a comprehensive and favourable regulatory framework”.
The regulation, according to the minister, will bring, among other advantages, the country’s participation in international carbon markets and projects that will benefit local communities.
“This regulatory framework will help guarantee the environmental integrity of our carbon projects, allow the country to participate in international carbon markets under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement and provide clarity for project developers and carbon buyers. Above all, it will ensure that our projects support and benefit local communities and the Mozambican population in general,” she said, emphasising that “in the context of carbon credit trading, Mozambique is positioning itself as a relevant player on the planet to face the challenges brought about by climate change”.
According to Ivete Maibaze, the country can also “position itself as a relevant player in the world, with possibilities for increasing carbon sinks, through climate-smart agriculture, forest preservation, reforestation and the blue economy”.
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In 2018, Mozambique adopted national regulations for projects to reduce emissions from deforestation, forest degradation and increase carbon reserves (REDD+), a mechanism that recognises the role of forests in mitigating the effect of climate change, as well as the need to compensate countries that contribute to the effect, through measures that promote forest conservation.
