West African Alliance on Carbon Markets and Climate Finance

• The Alliance (WAA) is continuously providing technical support and guidance for West African negotiators and Heads of Delegations (HoDs) ahead of UNFCCC COPs and SBs to better participate in negotiation processes on Article 6 and carbon markets. In this regard, the WAA also coordinates with negotiators of the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) and Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group. As a result, the Alliance has become a trusted partner by national governments.

Alongside this, the Alliance provides clear guidance of and support for Article 6 readiness and its implementation:

• In-country readiness support for West African countries has led to the development of Article 6 implementation roadmaps, country-specific legal briefs, readiness assessments, and stakeholder mappings, among other things.
• In 2025, the Alliance contracted two local experts for the Anglophone and Francophone country clusters who have started supporting countries with Article 6 implementation.-- In 2023, the Alliance established the West Africa Carbon Market Hub - a major initiative of Alliance. The Hub aims to create the sub-regional ecosystem needed to unlock the enormous potential of the West African carbon market, focusing on the operationalization of new regulations stemming from Article 6.
• The Alliance is currently working on its Article 6 Implementation Blueprint update, to reflect the recent developments in the carbon market landscape. The Blueprint for Article 6 Readiness was published in 2022 and is designed as a guide and reference document to support the development of national Article 6 strategies for market-based cooperation and its implementation, primarily in member countries of the Alliance. Based on the outcomes of the report, the WAA was able to start its implementation with Liberia, among other countries.
• In April 2021, the Alliance concluded the scooping study “Article 6 Readiness in West Africa”. The study supports host countries in navigating the new requirements of the Paris Agreement and advancing their readiness to implement Article 6 at the national level. Based on the study, the Alliance has started developing a tailored support framework and a clear roadmap for incorporating Article 6.2 into NDC implementation with the aim of matching African carbon markets with interested ITMO buyers.

Events:

• In Sept. 2025, the Alliance participated at the Africa Climate Week (CW) and the Africa Climate Summit 2 in Ethiopia. During the CW, it hosted its member meeting and steering committee members meeting and participated in meetings with other regional bodies such as ECOWAS and the African Union.
• In May 2025, the Alliance held the 2nd edition of the Carbon Market Hub event in Pointe Sarène, Senegal. The event culminated in a declaration from West African government representatives sending out a strong signal of the region’s collective commitment to leveraging carbon markets and climate finance for climate action and sustainable development. The Declaration outlines 10 key commitments (westafricanalliance.org/…). The 1st Carbon Market Hub event was held in Côte d´Ivoire in 2023 with the inauguration of the Hub.
• In November 2024, the WAA in collaboration with the AGN Chair, Eastern African Alliance and Conservation International organized a preparatory informal workshop of African negotiators on key technical issues under Article 6 ahead of COP29 in Baku.
• Before COP29, the Alliance, the UNFCCC Regional Collaboration Centre for West and Central Africa (RCC WAC Africa) and the government of Cape Verde together hosted the Regional Dialogue on Carbon Pricing (REdiCAP) for West Africa. The 4-day workshop brought together government officials, private sector leaders, and international agencies to deepen their understanding of Article 6 and carbon pricing, incl. establishing Article 6.4 Designated National Authorities (DNAs) and integrating Article 6 into countries NDCs. Preceding the Dialoge the WAA also convened a member meeting in Cabo Verde.
• At COP27, 16 Heads of Delegation to the COP representing Governments of West African countries held the first Roundtable Forum with the WAA. The roundtable is envisaged as a space for collective engagement between the Alliance and Heads of States.
• In 2021 and 2020, the West- and East African Alliances together held roundtables which serve as a platform between potential ITMO buyers (swiss Klik Foundation, Japans JCM) and sellers (Alliance members). The roundtables represented an opportunity to share experiences about the key lessons learned, challenges and success factors gathered from the existing experiences of setting up bilateral agreements between purchasing actors from private sectors and African countries.

Role model for other regional alliances:

• The WAA acted as a blueprint for the formation of the East African Alliance on Carbon Markets and Climate Finance (EAA), established in 2019, and both alliances have become international role models.
• The Alliance also helped to establish new sister alliance, the Southern Africa Alliance and Caribbean Alliance, and also supports the potential establishment of a Central African Alliance.
• South-East Asian countries have also expressed great interest in regional cooperation and the WAA and EAA will work together with Thailand and other countries in the region within the IKI funded project “Regional Cooperation – Global Carbon Markets” which is implemented by GIZ and kick-started in 2025