Online Reporter
Amos Mpofu, [email protected]
SPEAKER of Parliament, Advocate Jacob Mudenda, has rallied Zimbabwean entities to capitalise on carbon trading opportunities to harness critical funding to support climate sustainability and resilience projects.
This comes as compliance carbon markets are now valued at more than US$950 billion, while voluntary carbon markets are projected to expand to US$250 billion by 2030 as Governments and multinational corporations intensify their net-zero commitments.
The carbon trading mechanism allows countries, companies or individuals to buy and sell carbon credits, each representing a specified quantity of greenhouse gas emissions reduced or removed under recognised standards. Its principal aim is to mitigate climate change by creating financial incentives to cut emissions while unlocking new avenues for sustainable economic growth.
Speaking at a capacity-building workshop on carbon trading for the Parliament of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo on Friday, Adv Mudenda said the rapid growth of carbon markets signals “a tectonic shift” in how nations, industries and capital markets value environmental stewardship and quantify ecological degradation.
He cautioned Parliamentarians that climate change poses an existential threat, reshaping economies, displacing communities, eroding biodiversity and undermining sustainable development across Africa and beyond.
Zimbabwe, he noted, ranks among the 50 most climate-vulnerable countries in the world, despite contributing only 0.07 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
“With approximately 70 percent of the country’s population dependent on rain-fed agriculture for food sovereignty, the country confronts unprecedented and escalating climate challenges,” said Adv Mudenda.
“Yet even within this formidable crisis, opportunity beckons. The global response to climate change is creating new economic instruments, innovative financing mechanisms and transformative development opportunities.”
He described carbon trading as “a pivotal avenue for mobilising climate finance, incentivising mitigation actions, promoting technology transfer and linking developing economies like Zimbabwe to expanding global green markets valued in the billions of dollars”.
Adv Mudenda further asserted that although Africa accounts for only about four percent of cumulative global greenhouse gas emissions, it bears the brunt of climate impacts.
Zimbabwe’s initial engagement with international carbon markets began under the Kyoto Protocol through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which allowed developed countries to invest in emission-reduction projects in developing nations in exchange for Certified Emission Reductions. More recently, Zimbabwe has participated in voluntary carbon markets through initiatives such as forest conservation, reforestation, renewable energy and climate-smart agriculture.
A notable example is the Kariba Redd+ Project, which prevents deforestation and converts avoided emissions into tradable credits sold internationally.
Adv Mudenda said Zimbabwe possesses significant natural capital, with approximately 26 percent of its land designated as wildlife estates, protected areas and conservancies. These underpin a tourism sector that is a major foreign-currency earner and is increasingly recognised as a nature-based climate asset with quantifiable value in global carbon markets.
This convergence of conservation and commerce, he added, provides Zimbabwe with a distinctive competitive advantage.
He linked carbon markets to the national development agenda under Vision 2030, which seeks to attain
Upper-Middle-Income Society status through inclusive growth, industrialisation and prudent use of natural resources.
However, Adv Mudenda stressed that climate finance must respect African agency and sovereignty. In June 2023, Zimbabwe imposed a temporary moratorium on carbon trading activities after identifying governance deficits and material risks in inadequately regulated markets. Adv Mudenda said the move was “not a rejection of carbon markets… nor a repudiation of the Paris Agreement stipulations”, but “an unequivocal refutation of carbon colonialism”.
Mr Tirivanhu Muhwati, Acting Deputy Director of Carbon Markets in the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Wildlife, who once represented Zimbabwe in deliberations on the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement, said Zimbabwe has committed to a 40 percent per capita reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, contingent upon international support in finance, technology transfer and capacity building.
He noted that mechanisms under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement provides a practical route to mobilise resources while advancing development objectives.
The country has already established the Zimbabwe Carbon Markets Authority (ZiCMA) to ensure that all carbon projects meet strict criteria, including environmental additionality, demonstrable community benefit, alignment with NDC targets and contribution to national development goals.
A National Carbon Registry has also been created to track carbon credits from issuance to retirement, prevent double-counting and enhance transparency.
The event forms part of broader efforts to implement Zimbabwe’s recently launched Climate Change Bill and to strengthen parliamentary oversight of climate policy.
Londile Moyo