Turning Africa’s carbon potential into investment for climate action, nature, economic growth and resilience.
The Africa Carbon Investment & Finance Alliance (ACIFA) brings together investors, financiers, buyers and market partners to strengthen the investment and finance needed for Africa’s carbon markets to grow.
Convened by FSD Africa as a neutral platform, the Alliance connects credible carbon projects with the financial expertise, structures, capital and demand they need to move towards investment.
That neutrality is important. ACIFA does not compete with the organisations it brings together. It provides the infrastructure, convening and market intelligence to help transactions move forward, while its partners structure and execute the deals. FSD Africa’s independence from project developers and buyers helps safeguard this neutral role.
Links credible carbon opportunities with the capital, expertise and demand they need to move towards investment.
ACIFA provides the infrastructure, convening and market intelligence; its partners structure and execute the deals.
ACIFA complements existing work on policy, market readiness, standards and integrity, with a specific focus on investment and finance.
Carbon markets can enable the delivery of key economic and development outcomes across sectors, including:
Why now?
Africa needs an estimated US$277 billion a year to meet its 2030 climate goals, yet annual climate finance flows stand at around US$44 billion. Private finance accounts for just 14% of the total, the lowest share of any region.
Estimated annual financing required to meet Africa’s 2030 climate goals
Current annual climate finance flows
Approximate share of Africa’s annual carbon credit potential currently realised
Carbon markets could help close part of that gap. Yet only around 2% of Africa’s annual carbon credit potential is currently being realised. At the same time, conditions are shifting.
The opportunity now is to turn these developments into investment.
How ACIFA works
ACIFA works through three distinct but connected pillars, each addressing a critical part of the investment chain. Together, they connect credible supply with the structures, capital and demand needed to move towards investment.
Pipeline
Brings together African carbon projects and information on their investment readiness, helping investors identify and assess credible opportunities while reducing the time and cost of finding potential investments.
Finance Hub
Brings together financial partners to develop and share structures that can address financing barriers – from blended finance and guarantees to forward offtakes and carbon-linked instruments.
Capital & Demand
Provides investors and buyers with market and risk intelligence, while making demand more visible – helping capital identify opportunities and buyers signal what they are looking for.
Closing the investment gaps
ACIFA’s three functions work together because the barriers to investment are also connected. Making projects easier to find and assess is not enough if they are not bankable. Better financial structures will not bring capital in if investors cannot assess the risks. And projects need capital at the right stage to move towards investment.
ACIFA is designed to address four gaps across this investment chain.
Projects can be difficult to find and compare, increasing the cost of identifying opportunities and conducting due diligence.
Credible projects do not always reach investors in a form that can attract finance on workable terms.
Investors often lack comparable information to assess country, policy, governance and delivery risks across African markets.
Commercial finance tends to enter once projects have already been substantially de-risked — even though capital is needed earlier to get them there.
Membership
ACIFA brings together two types of members, each playing a distinct role in strengthening the investment and finance needed to get transactions moving.
Together, our members bring the pipeline, capital, demand, market expertise and structuring capability needed to get investment moving.
Our members
Investors, financiers and buyers deploying capital or taking offtake.
Partners contributing pipeline, expertise and market infrastructure.
Partner with us
Join us as we grow the alliance for investment in African carbon markets.
