Carbon Services Overview

Carbon Africa is a fully-fledged carbon company providing the essential services to take potential carbon projects from the initial design stages up to the final point of selling the carbon credits including assistance in negotiating Emission Reduction Purchase Agreements. Our services, which come as an all-in-one package or are tailored to the specific need of the client, include:

Carbon Asset Development

1. Feasibility studies

For a project or activity to become a carbon project, it needs to meet certain requirements. One of the key stipulations is the demonstration of additionality, which requires the project to prove that it is additional to what would have happened otherwise. If required, Carbon Africa, together with the project partner, can first carry out a feasibility study to check whether the project conforms with all necessary requirements and, in addition, it will provide an initial estimate about the carbon credit potential of the project.

2. Project Idea Note (PIN) Development

If requested by the client, Carbon Africa can prepare a Project Idea Note (PIN) for a project.  A PIN is normally a short summary of the relevant aspects of the project and can be useful to obtain at an early stage a letter of no objection from the local authorities or can act as a teaser for attracting the interest of an early stage carbon buyer.

3. Development of the full project or programme design documentation (PDD, PoA-DD, CPA-DD)

Carbon Africa will be responsible for the development of the full documentation needed to successfully validate and register the project, be it a Project Design Document (PDD), Programme of Activities Design Document (PoA-DD) or general and specific CDM Programme Activity Design Documents (CPA-DD).  The design documentation describes in detail the project or programme activity and will be accompanied by supporting evidence. The documentation include descriptions of the technical aspects of the activity, the purpose, its contribution to sustainable development, the project boundaries and the proposed baseline methodology, a statement of the estimated operational life of the project, stakeholder comments, an analysis of environmental impacts for the project and an explanation of how the project activity meets additionality requirements.  A monitoring plan is also included in the design documentation, which will need to be followed during project implementation.

4. Facilitation of Validation

Validation consists of an independent evaluation of the proposed carbon project and its supporting documentation by an independent auditing company. The purpose of the validation step is to ensure that the project meets all the necessary requirements and that it will generate real and measurable emission reductions.  Carbon Africa can facilitate validation from identification and contracting of the third-party auditor, to support during the site visit and will respond to all requests for clarification or correction until the final validation report ready.

5. Support to Registration

Once the project or programme and first specific activity are validated, it can then be registered with the relevant authorities.  Carbon Africa will assist and support the client throughout the process of registration, including responding to any requests for clarification.

6. Facilitation of Monitoring and Verification

For the first few years of project operations, Carbon Africa will help the client with the monitoring process including preparation of the Monitoring Report and can facilitate the annual verification, certification and issuance processes.  Carbon Africa will then train the client's staff to take over the process, unless requested to remain on board for longer.

Carbon Transaction Management

Carbon Africa itself is not a buyer of carbon credits.  Instead, we assist clients to maximize the benefit of their carbon asset through the following services:

7. Carbon asset optimization

Carbon Africa will advise the client on the development of an appropriate carbon asset management and sales strategy that best suits the needs of the project.  In addition to entering into a sales-purchase agreement for the carbon credits, the client may also wish to consider how to best use the carbon asset as leverage during the project development phase to, for example, raise equity, secure favourable loan conditions or negotiate a viable tariff rate.

8. Identification and selection of suitable carbon buyers

There are approximately 350 active carbon buyers, many of whom are increasingly turning to Africa to source carbon credits.  Different buyers have different interests, capabilities and risk profiles.  Carbon Africa will use its industry knowledge and contacts to identify the best buyers for the project and narrow down a short-list of that will bring most benefit to the client.

9. Assistance to Emission Reduction Purchase Agreement (ERPA) negotiations

Carbon Africa will first support the client to understand the nature of carbon credit sale-purchase agreements and advise on appropriate commercial terms of most benefit to the project.  Carbon Africa can then also actively take part in supporting the actual negotiations of an Emission Reduction Purchase Agreement (ERPA) with a buyer."

10. Other Services

Carbon Africa can also provide other services to clients and projects as requested. These include financial advisory and grant raising services to assist in accessing additional resources that may be needed to develop the project. Carbon Africa can also conduct carbon credit training and capacity building exercises for local authorities, institutions, regulators, universities and industry groups.