Following the success of previous editions of the Africa Business Forum, which has been held annually since 2018, this year the Forum will be held under the theme “Making carbon markets work for Africa”. It is scheduled to be held on Monday, 20 February 2023, from 9 a.m. to 6.15 p.m. at the Sheraton Hotel in Addis Ababa, on the margins of the thirty-sixth ordinary session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union. The Forum will be a fully in-person event.
The goal of the Africa Business Forum is to promote an ongoing dialogue between the private and public sectors in Africa to accelerate collective efforts towards realizing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want, of the African Union. The themes of the previous editions of the Forum were as follows: investment in 2018; health in 2019; investing in people, the planet and prosperity in 2020; innovative finance to build towards the Sustainable Development Goals in 2021; and investing in multimodal transport and tourism infrastructure to optimize the benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Area in 2022.
The 2023 edition of the Forum will build on the positive momentum generated at the twenty-seventh session of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt in November 2022, which focused on the use of carbon credit markets as a means of accelerating climate action, and on generating investment to bring about economic transformation in African countries. The Forum will be jointly convened by ECA and the African Export-Import Bank, with the support of the African Union Commission; Sustainable Energy for All will be a resource partner. It will bring together governments, private investors and civil society entities to facilitate investment in bankable projects that deliver meaningful climate action in Africa.
Who should attend?
The following stakeholders are encouraged to attend:
- African political leaders participating in the thirty-sixth ordinary session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union
- Representatives of the African Union Commission
- Private sector companies interested in the development of carbon markets
- Multilateral development banks that are invested in supporting such initiatives
- Sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and insurers that invest in large-scale forest and ecosystem conservation/restoration projects, providers of concessional finance, and equity investors in technology-intensive areas such as clean energy
- Civil society representatives
- Policymakers and thought leaders
- Youth representatives
- Media representatives
While participation will be primarily by personal invitation, a limited number of seats will be open to prospective attendees whose registration is approved prior to the start of the Forum.
All participants must register at https://indico.un.org/event/1003716/. Please note participation in the Forum is self-sponsored.
