Earlier this summer, the government of Zimbabwe essentially nationalized its carbon offset assets. CarbonCredits.com reports that the government has decided to “drop[] the initial plan to give 25% of the revenue to local communities to allow developers to keep a greater share of the profits.”
In hopes that the potential revenue increase will attract more investors:
“Project developers no longer have to give up a quarter of their 70% share of profit as previously mandated. But the Southern African nation will still keep its 30% share and hand it over to state stakeholders… Explaining the big amendment, the environment and climate minister Mangaliso Ndlovu said:
‘We are doing this to be competitive in attracting the right investors, as every project is an investment in communities. They will still benefit from the 30% that goes to the government.’”
This could be quite a significant change as the article points out that “Zimbabwe is the 12th largest carbon offsets producer in the world. It delivered over 4 million carbon credits from various projects in 2022.” At the same time, we are in an era of climate policy reversals in other countries and this change is itself a shift in Zimbabwe’s policy from only a few months ago. There may still be reason for caution.
If you aren’t already signed up, subscribe to our complimentary ESG blog here https://practicalesg.com/subscribe for daily updates delivered right to you.
