Women eye Africa's projected carbon credit boom

Yasmin Sizwe, a social scientist and analyst at Xpotential Mining Services, posing for a picture, during the COP29 Climate Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, November 16, 2024. Photo: Seth Onyango, bird story agency

A landmark deal struck at the UN climate summit in Baku could unlock billions of dollars in carbon offsets for Africa, with women set to carve out a considerable share of the market.

Seth Onyango, bird story agency

Yasmin Sizwe stood alone at the South African pavilion, headphones perched over her braids and her gaze fixed intently on the panel ahead.

“I’m here to listen and learn,” she said, expounding on her enthusiasm for decoding the complexities of global carbon markets and mapping a way forward for Africa.

“It’s a whole new way to look at reaching climate change goals.”

The concept of a market for carbon credits is for credits to be bought that allow organizations to offset their emissions by funding projects that actively reduce carbon elsewhere.

While concerns have arisen over the validity of some projects - with attendant claims of "greenwashing" - for Africa, the market represents an unprecedented opportunity.

The African Carbon Markets Initiative aims to expand Africa’s carbon credit market 19 times by 2030, unlocking over U$6 billion and creating 30 million jobs.

This is expected to spark investment in clean energy and forest projects across Africa.

The continent’s rich biodiversity and natural resources make it uniquely positioned to lead the charge.

“Africa has the space and the diversity to create impactful projects,” Sizwe explained. “We’re rich in animals, plants, trees, people — a landscape perfectly suited for innovative solutions that generate real value.”

As a social scientist and analyst at Xpotential Mining Services, Sizwe is part analyst and part advocate. Her work revolves around brokering carbon credits, a market that could redefine Africa’s place in the global climate economy.

Sizwe’s work revolves around facilitating these projects. As a project developer and broker, her role involves connecting projects that reduce carbon emissions with buyers looking to offset theirs.

“You develop your project, and as it starts reducing emissions, those reductions can be sold as credits,” she said. “It’s one of the most creative strategies we have for reaching climate change goals.”

But for women like Sizwe, the carbon credit market offers more than just financial potential — it’s a space to address systemic inequalities and create opportunities for communities often left behind.

Women are increasingly carving out space in the carbon credits sector, a trend that Sizwe finds both inspiring and natural.

“Women should be everywhere.” It's a simple but powerful message.

Unlike industries like mining, where gender disparities are stark, Sizwe noted that the environmental space feels more balanced.

“I’m relatively new to this space, but in my journey, I’ve encountered a lot of women,” she said.

“At this COP, they even mentioned that women occupy most of the roles in the environmental sector, which I found fascinating.”

Sizwe believes that women’s contributions in this space go beyond representation.

“I think women’s involvement can open up the space and make it more accessible,” she said.

The huge disparity between men and women she has seen in the mining sector, is not in the environmental and sustainability space, she explained.

"Maybe this is just something that women are drawn to because it has a course, there's a goal, and you're making an impact with these kinds of careers,” she said, adding that the impact-driven nature of carbon credit work resonates deeply with women.

Whether it’s creating reforestation projects that provide jobs or restoring degraded land that strengthens food security, these initiatives align with community-focused solutions, she explained.

Studies indicate that involving women in climate initiatives enhances outcomes and optimizes climate finance utilisation, according to a report by Social Development Direct.

Examples include an ecosystem services program in Indonesia, Peru, and Tanzania that found that forest user groups with a 50% gender quota conserved more trees and distributed payments more equitably than those without such quotas.

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