Africa’s eco-friendly small business possibilities are considerable, UNEP analyze reveals

Addis Ababa, 17 August 2023 – Africa’s personal sector can bolster its eco-friendly agenda and push amplified GDP, greater revenue for every capita, produce tens of tens of millions of positions, and foster collaboration in between governments, corporations and neighborhood communities, in accordance to a comprehensive study published right now by the UN Setting Programme (UNEP). 

The Africa Environment Outlook for Enterprise is introduced as 54 African ministers of environment are collected in Addis Ababa for the 19^th session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Ecosystem (AMCEN). It suggests corporations adopt a holistic technique anchored in gain, men and women, planet, prosperity, peace, and partnerships. 

Elizabeth Mrema, UNEP Deputy Govt Director, explained: “This report shows that policymakers can create an enabling surroundings for investments that tackle the triple planetary crisis by adopting sturdy regulatory frameworks, investing in investigate, innovation, and training, as well as advertising public-private partnerships and fostering collaboration across governments, companies and neighborhood communities.” 

The report showcases a array of achievements tales of eco-friendly ventures today, as very well as details on the likely for expansion throughout sectors. 

Agriculture and personal sector investments in mother nature: 

• Transitioning to sustainable agriculture, which at present contributes about 17 for each cent to sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP. Embracing natural farming, precision agriculture, and agroforestry are some of the approaches that can increase efficiency though minimizing destructive impacts on ecosystems and avoiding food items insecurity and biodiversity loss. 
• Electronic technologies in agribusiness present a US$1 trillion market in direction of feeding the continent’s developing population, believed to reach 2.5 billion by 2050.  
• Combating soil erosion can have web added benefits in nutrients – this sort of as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium – worthy of US$62.4 billion yearly.  
• Restoring mother nature can unlock a enterprise value of $10 trillion and create 395 million work by 2030. 

The blue financial system and ecotourism: 

• Through investigation, innovation and running aquatic ecosystems, the resilience of the blue overall economy – projected to deliver US$576 billion and 127 million jobs by 2063 – must be sustained in the deal with of overfishing, air pollution, and climate adjust.  
• Maritime and coastal tourism provides tremendous opportunities for sustainable enhancement in Africa, with likely value-additional of about $100 billion by 2030.

Local weather-wise prospects for a internet-zero changeover:  

• Africa can turn into a trailblazer in renewable electricity remedies, with ample solar, wind, hydro, biomass, and geothermal sources that could add to a 6.4 for every cent improve in GDP from 2021 to 2050. Ocean renewable strength is a huge untapped useful resource for Africa, with the possible to produce in between 100 to 400 for each cent of recent world-wide electricity demand.  
• Organizations in the electrical power efficiency sector can deliver products and providers, this kind of as lights systems, good structures, and economical industrial processes.  
• An annual funding gap in weather funding of $213.4 billion offers progressive traders a prospect to make an effects by setting up Africa’s local climate resilience.  
• Important reserves of essential minerals like copper, graphite, lithium, molybdenum, nickel, zinc, bauxite, cobalt, manganese, and platinum – handled responsibly – make Africa necessary for electric powered automobiles, solar PV mobile technological innovation and wind turbines.  
• ‘Cool roof paint’ can mirror up to 95 for every cent of photo voltaic heat and the have to have for air conditioning investments in cleanse cooking strength sources can assist 900 million (ensuing nowadays in bad health and fitness and deforestation), and the African LED lighting current market may well practically double by 2028, reaching US$5.49 billion. 

Profitable pathways for circularity: 

• Opportunities in advertising and marketing sanitation, tackling plastic waste, recycling infrastructure, sustainable packaging, e-waste collection and refurbishment.  
• In the agro-foodstuff marketplace, productive supply chains and food items squander reduction can improve useful resource utilisation while assembly developing meals demand from customers.  
• Plant-centered proteins and foods security programs can even more push expansion and sustainable procedures. 
• The European Union-funded SWITCH Africa Environmentally friendly initiative and SwitchMed programmes, which exemplify the viability of turning to a round financial system in benefitting extra than 3,000 MSMEs and eight sub-Saharan African international locations in agriculture, integrated waste management, manufacturing, and tourism.  

The African Continental Cost-free Trade Area (AfCFTA): 

• The quickly-expanding style and textiles sector in sub-Saharan Africa is valued at roughly $31 billion and provides possibilities such as sustainable content sourcing, recycling, moral production, rental and sharing versions, and shopper education.  
• The African automotive sector is dominated by applied motor vehicles, paving the way for companies to thrive in automobile recycling, remanufacturing, battery recycling, shared mobility methods, repair and routine maintenance expert services, circular source chain administration, and teaching and skills growth.  
• The financing gap for environmentally audio systems (ESTs) need to be tackled. In 2020, only $6.07 billion flowed into the continent for ESTs, although the international exported engineering price arrived at $1.17 trillion. 
• A pipeline of 360 ongoing sustainable infrastructure assignments really worth $100 billion in sectors – including strength, information and facts and communications technology (ICT), logistics, mining and construction (as of 2022) and extra tentative jobs in the identical sectors valued at $257 billion, demonstrates the continent’s various expenditure possibilities in the changeover to internet zero emissions.  

The African voluntary carbon market place: 

• Even with enormous probable, Africa utilizes only a portion of its carbon credit rating ability concentrated in only five countries, due to fragmented jobs, a scarcity of substantial-scale developers, regulatory uncertainties, believability fears for selected credits and equitable price distribution.  
• Africa’s untapped likely is estimated at around 2,400 metric tons of CO2 equal (MtCO2e) for each annum. It could obtain an extra 400 MtCO2e annually, valued at around US$7 billion per yr by 2030.  
• Initiatives these as the African Carbon Marketplace Initiative (ACMI) and the Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets (TSVCM) advise regional and world actions to scale the supply and desire for substantial-integrity carbon credits.  

The report notes special problems to several African economies, like constrained investments, institutional capacity, scalability, higher transaction expenditures, outcome transportation, and access to- and affordability of electrical power. Minimizing upfront prices and marketing energy-productive methods, and modern financing mechanisms will have to all be prioritized by policymakers.

“Africa faces not just extraordinary issues on weather adjust, nature reduction, and air pollution, but has a uniquely dynamic economic landscape, youthful demographic, and options for decarbonization, electronic transformation and for leveraging an environmental, social and governance (ESG) framework for sustainability in the small business sector,” stated Rose Mwebaza, UNEP Director and Regional Agent for Africa. “With this new report, we hope to encourage African business owners and enterprises, especially audacious to start with movers, to engage in green growth and add to sustainable growth ambitions.” 

 

Note TO EDITORS  

About the UN Setting Programme (UNEP)

UNEP is the top global voice on the ecosystem. It supplies leadership and encourages partnership in caring for the ecosystem by inspiring, informing and enabling nations and peoples to enhance their top quality of life devoid of compromising that of upcoming generations.  

About The African Ministerial Conference on the Surroundings (AMCEN) 

The African Ministerial Convention on the Atmosphere (AMCEN) was recognized in December 1985, subsequent a convention of African ministers of natural environment held in Cairo, Egypt. Its mandate is to provide advocacy for environmental defense in Africa to guarantee that standard human requirements are met sufficiently and in a sustainable fashion to ensure that social and financial growth is recognized at all concentrations and to assure that agricultural routines and tactics satisfy the food items protection needs of the location. 

 

For extra data, please speak to:  

Tom Ogola, Public Details, Communications and Outreach Device, UNEP Africa,  

News and Media Device, UN Setting Programme