Charting South Africa’s path to high-integrity carbon markets: Leadership, regulation and regional collaboration
Keynote address by Dr Dion George, MP
Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment
Carbon Markets Africa Summit 2025
Distinguished guests,
Esteemed colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,
We meet today at a defining moment for our continent and our planet. The world is entering a new chapter of climate action, where ambition must be measured not in words but in results. As we prepare for COP 30 in Belém, Brazil, next month, our responsibility is to translate opportunity into impact and cooperation into tangible progress.
At COP 29 in Baku, we achieved two important outcomes under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. The adoption of a new methodology standard and a decision on removals created the technical foundation for credible market activity. The outcome on the New Collective Quantified Goal for climate finance also underscored the need for innovative financial instruments that can help countries deliver their commitments.
Carbon markets are one such instrument. When governed with integrity, they can mobilise finance, transfer technology, and drive inclusive growth.
From ambition to accountability
Carbon markets are not a substitute for national action. They are a tool to deepen ambition, enable cooperation, and deliver measurable results. They provide a pathway for countries to work together while maintaining environmental integrity and national sovereignty.
Africa must approach this space with clarity and confidence. Under the Kyoto Protocol, our continent accounted for only two percent of Clean Development Mechanism projects. That must not be repeated. The rules have evolved, and we now have the tools to ensure that every credit issued represents a real, additional reduction.
Transparency, verification, and accuracy are non-negotiable. Each Party must report and account for its mitigation outcomes under the Paris framework. The principle is simple: one credit, one use, one count. No double counting, no overselling, no ambiguity. These are the foundations of a credible system that can attract trust and investment.
Introducing South Africa’s Draft Carbon Markets Framework
Today, I am honoured to introduce the Draft South African Carbon Markets Framework, developed under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. This draft framework has been widely consulted upon, with input from stakeholders across government, business, and civil society. It is now being vetted and will be gazetted soon.
The framework lays the foundation for developing, governing, and scaling high-integrity carbon markets in South Africa. It is designed to create an enabling environment for credible, transparent, and socially inclusive carbon market activity, aligned with our Nationally Determined Contributions and with the Paris Agreement’s cooperative mechanisms.
Building on this foundation, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment is developing a complementary instrument, the Draft Carbon Credit Revenue Plan, which aims to monetise the Department’s natural assets and generate new sources of sustainable revenue.
Together, these two draft instruments represent a bold and integrated approach to advancing climate finance: a framework for integrity, a plan for implementation, and a vision for inclusive growth.
The objectives of the Draft Carbon Credit Revenue Plan are threefold:
- First, to generate sustainable revenue by converting South Africa’s forests, wetlands, oceans, and protected landscapes into high-integrity carbon credits.
- Second, to reinvest this revenue into environmental programmes that advance our national priorities and NDC targets, ensuring that ambition is matched by practical implementation.
- Third, to reinforce South Africa’s leadership in climate innovation by demonstrating that environmental protection can drive economic growth, social inclusion, and resilience.
This is our model: finance from nature, reinvested in nature, for the people.
The Draft Carbon Credit Revenue Plan builds on DFFE’s existing portfolio of scalable programmes, which align with South Africa’s G20 priorities: biodiversity and conservation, climate change, oceans, chemicals and waste, and land use. We are not starting from scratch.
In Forestry and Land Use, our Ten Million Trees Programme is ready to be scaled as a major afforestation project. We are advancing sustainable forest management and REDD+ initiatives that protect vital ecosystems.
In Biodiversity and Conservation, we are managing national parks and protected areas as verified carbon sinks, restoring degraded grasslands and biomes, and creating jobs through ecological restoration.
In Oceans and Coasts, our three thousand kilometres of coastline hold immense Blue Carbon potential. The restoration of mangroves, seagrass meadows, and salt marshes supports climate mitigation and coastal community resilience.
In Chemicals and Waste, we are capturing and destroying greenhouse gases from landfills, wastewater, and industrial processes, turning pollution into both a financial and environmental asset.
The Draft Carbon Markets Framework establishes the institutional and regulatory architecture for this transition. Implementation of the Draft Carbon Credit Revenue Plan will build on this foundation and follow a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach.
We will begin with a comprehensive status analysis and a strong institutional setup, including an inter-agency arrangement. Pilot projects will be launched in the identified sectors to demonstrate early success.
A fair revenue-sharing model will ensure that benefits flow to the national fiscus, into project expansion, and to local communities who are the stewards of our land.
Our approach aligns with the Paris Agreement’s Crediting Mechanism, ensuring that South African credits are credible, respected, and tradable internationally.
We invite the global community to see South Africa as both a partner and a hub for innovation, integrity, and investment in green solutions.
This model can inspire others across the Global South and prove that economic opportunity and environmental protection can advance together.
Africa’s opportunity and collaboration
Our continent is rich in natural capital: forests, peatlands, oceans, grasslands, and mineral wealth. These resources are not liabilities; they are levers for development. We can convert them into assets that fund adaptation, resilience, and economic opportunity.
However, the wealth generated from Africa’s ecosystems must benefit the people who protect them. The global system must be fair. It cannot be that intermediaries in the global north capture most of the value while African countries and communities receive only a fraction. Transparent pricing, direct access to markets, and equitable benefit-sharing are essential.
Regional collaboration is vital. The West African, Eastern African, and emerging Southern African carbon alliances are important platforms for collective action. They will allow us to harmonise standards, build capacity, and coordinate market access. Africa must move from being a price taker to being a price setter in this global system.
Governance, integrity and fairness
Integrity begins with governance. High-quality markets require strong institutions, predictable regulation, and open data. We are investing in capacity building, verification systems, and transparent reporting tools to ensure that our national system can track and account for every transaction.
We also recognise that climate finance must be inclusive. Women, youth, and local communities must be part of the value chain, not at its margins. The transformation we seek will not be achieved by government alone. It demands a whole-of-society approach, where business, civil society, academia, and communities work together.
A call to unity and investment
Ladies and gentlemen, Africa must act as one. Fragmentation weakens us; unity strengthens us. Let us share knowledge, align our standards, and build regional systems that reflect our shared ambition.
To my fellow African leaders, I say this: the eyes of investors are on our continent. We can either watch as others set the price of our potential, or we can set that price ourselves. Let us take our rightful place as leaders in the global carbon economy.
To our international partners and the private sector, I extend an open invitation to walk with us in the spirit of solidarity, equality, and sustainability.
Together we can build markets that are fair, transparent, and transformative. Markets that deliver both climate integrity and shared prosperity.
The future of carbon markets will be defined not by promises but by performance. Our goal is simple: to build a credible system that attracts investment, delivers real emission reductions, and creates lasting value for our people. Through integrity, innovation and partnership, Africa can lead a new era of climate-smart growth.
Thank you.
#GovZAUpdates
