ZIMBABWE has embarked on an ambitious programme as it pushes towards full compliance with Article 6 of the Paris agreement, which among other issues, seeks to raise global climate ambitions while contributing towards sustainable development of nations through the establishment of mechanisms for the validation, verification and issuance of high-quality carbon credits, a senior Government official has said.
Addressing stakeholders during a press briefing in Harare today, Environment, Climate and Wildlife minister, Sithembiso Nyoni said Zimbabwe is determined to consolidate its position as a global leader in the fight against climate change.
“As Government, we have embarked on an ambitious programme to establish Zimbabwe as one of the first parties to the Paris Agreement to achieve full article 6 readiness, thereby allowing the country to fully engage in the international compliance market, guaranteeing the best possible financial returns, full alignment of the carbon market with national development objectives, and an improved investment climate. This will help us consolidate Zimbabwe’s position as a global leader in the fight against climate change,” she said.
Minister Nyoni added that Government has since initiated the process of developing the article 6 implementation framework to ensure transparency and accountability in carbon trading on the compliance market. The process includes a full readiness and needs assessment, development of an article 6 action plan, policy and carbon market strategy. It also includes establishing an online portal and state of the art carbon registry, and a detailed operational manual for measurement, reporting and verifications guidelines. All these, the minister said, would build on the existing policy and carbon credit framework, and Statutory Instrument 150 of 2023 and its amendments, setting the tone for alignment with the forthcoming legislation that includes, the Climate Change Management Bill set to be enacted before the end of the year.
In line with Zimbabwe’s commitment to comply with set standards and processes, Government has roped in an international global climate change and carbon marketing expert, Felix Mechnig-Giordano to help with the process of compliance and full implementation of article 6 statutes. The minister emphasised that as Government, they are taking a parallel approach whereby the environment ministry will take care of the legal and institutional side of the project, while the consultant will focus of the technical aspect of the project.
As such, Minister Nyoni also said that Government is confident of finalising article 6 policy and carbon market strategy by December this year. In line with integration with the Climate Change Management Bill, Zimbabwe hopes to attain full article 6 readiness in the first half of next year.
Article 6 also requires host countries to put in place the requisite institutional, technical and legal arrangements. This is to ensure the integrity of emissions reductions and accountability for all mitigations outcomes generated within their jurisdiction in line with United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) requirements and standard, best practices.
In Zimbabwe, the national climate change governance practices are mandated by Section 73 of the country’s Constitution, while there are also several other environmental statutes such as the Environmental Management Act (EMA), the Forestry Act, the Civil Protection Act, the National Climate Change Response Strategy (NCCRS) of 2014, the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) of 2015 and the 2017 National Climate Change Policy (NCCP). There is also the umbrella National Environmental Policy (NEP) whose mandate is to ensure that Zimbabwe fulfils its international obligations under the UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement.
The 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) will be held in Baku in November this year.
