Liberia: EPA Convenes Retreat on Carbon Market Framework

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in collaboration with the UNDP, has convened a one-day retreat aimed at developing a carbon roadmap readiness framework for Liberia. 

The high-level meeting which brought together Civil Society Organizations, academia, government officials, and policymakers will help to develop a framework to assist the government in leveraging the carbon market.

“This retreat is an opportunity for us to initiate a stocktaking process and see how we can accelerate actions to access finance in the short, medium, and long term for the development of our country,” Dr. Emmanuel Yarkpawolo, Acting Executive Director, of EPA said in his opening remarks.

In 2021, Liberia submitted its Nationally Determined Contributions to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change with a commitment to reduce emissions by 64% by 2030 below the Business-as-usual levels. Agriculture, Coastal Zone, fisheries, forestry, energy, health, Waste, industries, and Transport are key sectors the NDC takes into consideration to reduce emissions.

Dr. Yarkpawolo believes that leveraging the carbon market could help Liberia meet its NDC target, and enable Liberians to beat the negative impact of climate change. “Now is the time to provide strategic direction, inform and advance policy development on climate finance, including NDCs’ financing strategy, carbon markets, and so on.”

“We also have the opportunity to assess the gains made in the last few years, review updates on the potential and opportunities available to Liberia for the carbon markets, and discuss challenges and the required interventions to unlock bottlenecks towards the full realization of Liberia’s national carbon market agenda.”

The NDCs are targets set up by countries to reduce global warming and reduce the impact of climate change. “As a signatory to the Paris Agreement, Liberia commits to realizing its NDCs but can only do so with predictable and adequate financing. Liberia wishes to engage in readiness activities to access carbon markets to mobilize finance from our forests that will increase our domestic revenue generation.”

Carbon markets are trading systems in which carbon credits are sold and bought. Companies or individuals can use carbon markets to compensate for their greenhouse gas emissions by purchasing carbon credits from entities that remove or reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

The stakeholders meeting highlighted and focused on Liberia’s readiness to ensure the country benefits from carbon financing. Currently, Liberia has no policy framework and policy document on the carbon market. The EPA, UNDP, and other partners have initiated discussions on Liberia’s readiness to engage the carbon market.

Rudoph Merab, the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) boss, said carbon markets are a new tool for Liberia to explore to help the country meet its climate targets. 

Louis Kuukpen, Deputy Resident Representative at UNDP, pledged UNDP’s commitment to assisting Liberia’s development framework policy on the carbon market. 

Carbon Market Importance

The forest of Liberia is recognized globally as a biodiversity hotspot holding approximately 46 percent of the upper Guinea forest. Deforestation and forest degradation are factors that harm the forest. Experts and advocates have called for the protection and preservation of forests to save natural habitats, biodiversity, and ecosystems that are important to limiting global warming. Others have urged that protecting and conserving forests is expensive because people rely on forests for sustainability. 

However, the carbon market is how countries can protect their forest. In 2021, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a fresh report card on the world’s efforts towards limiting climate change. 

Types of carbon markets 

Compliance and Voluntary are the two types of carbon markets.

Compliance markets are created as a result of any national, regional, and/or international policy or regulatory requirement.

Voluntary carbon markets–national and international–refer to voluntarily issuing, buying, and selling carbon credits.