Clean Development Mechanism Potential and Challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa lags far behind other regions in terms of the implementation of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects due to several reasons. One of the reasons is a general perception that, since the region contributes very little to global GHG emissions, it also offers few opportunities to reduce these emissions. Using a bottom-up approach, this study investigates the technical potential of reducing GHG emissions from the energy sector in Sub-Saharan Africa through the CDM. The study finds that sub-Saharan Africa could develop 3,227 CDM projects, including 361 programs of activities, which could reduce approximately 9.8 billion tons of GHG emissions during the CDM project cycles. The study also estimates that the realization of this CDM potential could significantly enhance sustainable development in the region as it would attract more than US$200 billion in investment and could generate US$98 billion of CDM revenue at a CER price of US$10/tCO2. Another notable finding of the study is that the realization of this CDM potential could supply clean electricity by doubling the current capacity and thereby providing access of electricity to millions of people in the region. However, realization of this CDM potential is severely constrained by a number of financial, technical, regulatory and institutional barriers.