The Road to COP32, Addis Ababa

Background and Rationale

In November 2025, at the closing plenary of COP30 in Belém, Ethiopia secured the endorsement of the African Group of Negotiators to host COP32 in Addis Ababa in November 2027, only the fifth time an African nation has held the UNFCCC presidency, and the first time in 16 years the conference will return to sub-Saharan Africa. COP32 will place Article 6 implementation, carbon market integrity and African climate finance at the centre of the global agenda, and will be preceded by an intensive 18–24 month period of regional positioning, negotiation preparation and pipeline-building across the continent.Southern Africa currently has no dedicated platform of its own feeding into this process. Regional carbon market activity REDD+ and nature-based projects in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, agroforestry and rangeland restoration in Namibia and South Africa, mining-sector decarbonisation across the Copperbelt, and an expanding pipeline of bilateral Article 6.2 cooperation , has no single convening that brings SADC governments, project developers, investors and standards bodies together to align ahead of Addis Ababa.

Objectives

• Position Southern Africa as a credible, coordinated voice on Article 6 and carbon market integrity ahead of COP32.
• Align SADC member states on Article 6.2/6.4 authorisation processes, host-country corresponding adjustments and regional standards, ahead of the negotiations in Addis Ababa.
• Connect regional project developers with investors, buyers and financiers to convert readiness into transactions before COP32.
• Build negotiator and technical capacity across the region so Southern African delegations arrive at COP32 prepared and coordinated.
• Establish Livingstone and Zambia as a recurring Southern African hub for carbon market convening, alongside Zambia’s existing Article 6 institutional programmes.

The conference would run over three days in Livingstone, structured around the same delivery model that has proven effective for continental carbon market summits, adapted to a road-to-COP32, Southern Africa-specific agenda:

Proposed regional-specific tracks:

• A dedicated “Road to COP32” negotiators’ track preparing SADC delegations on Article 6 rulebook issues likely to be live at Addis Ababa.
• Mining-sector decarbonisation and blended finance, leveraging CCAL’s existing mapping of Zambia’s mining ecosystem.
• Cross-border Article 6.2 cooperation among SADC states, building on Zambia’s early institutional experience.

Why Delegates Should Attend

The conference is built around three pillars, structured explicitly to prepare the region for COP32:

Pillar 1 High-Level Dialogue: aligning policy, demand and capital to unlock execution

• Plenary sessions on policy, demand, finance and market integrity
• Keynote dialogues on scaling Southern Africa’s carbon markets globally, ahead of COP32
• Ministerial roundtable on Article 6 implementation and country authorisations
• Public–private roundtable with governments, buyers and financiers
• A high-impact dialogue session on trust, investment and scale

Pillar 2 Market Activation: turning readiness into pipelines, partnerships and deal flow

• Closed-door, curated investor and buyer roundtables
• Deal rooms with structured matchmaking meetings
• Project presentations showcasing the region’s leading case studies and investment pipeline
• MRV and digital infrastructure demonstrations supporting scale and transparency
• Speed-dating and targeted networking sessions

Pillar 3 Capacity Building: strengthening readiness for real market participation and negotiation

• Carbon 101: foundational sessions covering the basics of carbon markets
• Carbon 201: moving from concept to execution
• Solution labs addressing the region’s key bottlenecks (finance, authorisation, MRV, registries)
• Technical deep-dives on standards, integrity and compliance
• Negotiator preparation sessions for SADC delegations ahead of COP32

Five reasons to attend:

• The market is moving to scale  the focus is on pipelines, portfolios and transactions, not just concepts and frameworks.
• Deals depend on the right connections  direct engagement with policymakers, investors, buyers and market infrastructure leaders.
• Quality now drives demand  clarity on what buyers want, where capital is flowing, and what market integrity requires.
• COP32 is six months away this is the region’s one structured opportunity to align positions and pipelines before Addis Ababa.
• Southern Africa must lead competitively  the conference positions the region as a credible, coordinated partner in global carbon markets and in the COP32 negotiations.

Who would attend:

• Carbon project developers, policymakers and regulators, standard and certification bodies, traders and brokers, legal and advisory firms, technology providers, corporate buyers and off-takers, civil society and indigenous groups.
• Investors: DFIs, institutional investors, carbon funds and asset managers, ESG and climate funds, banks, private equity and impact investors.

Modelled on the turnout of comparable continental carbon market summits (150+ participants, 50+ investors/buyers/financiers, 40+ project developers, 30+ countries, 77 speakers), the conference would target a comparable regional footprint, drawing primarily from the 16 SADC member states alongside pan-African, Ethiopian/COP32 Presidency, and international delegations.