Credibility is now Africa’s most valuable carbon export, as Europe tightens rules with local markets turn to tech firms like Austria’s EcoNetix to digitise and scale offset systems.
Second Eye Africa
Africa’s carbon markets are drawing fresh attention—and capital—as Europe’s climate strategy pivots more aggressively toward carbon removals, creating new demand for tech-enabled solutions that can deliver traceable, high-quality offsets at scale.
It follows a historic deal at the UN climate talks in Baku last November that approved quality standards for carbon credits and cleared the path for a global carbon market to fund emissions-reduction projects.
Now, tech firms like Austria’s EcoNetix are deploying digital monitoring tools across Africa to bring credibility and scale to the continent’s emerging carbon markets.
EcoNetix, a next-gen carbon asset firm, has a technology stack and policy-aligned model are positioning it as a sought-after implementation partner for African governments and project developers navigating the fast-evolving CO₂ market.
The strategic shift follows high-level EU policy developments, including recent meetings between Econetix, EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra, and Austrian Climate Minister Norbert Totschnig to formalise carbon removal markets under the EU’s 2040 framework.
The EU is preparing to operationalise its Carbon Removal Certification Framework (CRCF) as part of its roadmap to cut emissions by 90% by 2040, elevating permanent CO₂ removals from a theoretical side note to a central pillar of climate action.
“Carbon asset markets are on the verge of becoming a fixed component of European climate policy,” said Dr. Paul Nimmerfall, co-founder and CEO of EcoNetix.
“Climate neutrality is unachievable without scalable, transparent, and economically viable markets for CO₂ removal. To achieve climate targets, we need implementation partners with practical know-how—and this is exactly where EcoNetix comes in.”
For African states long seen as sleeping giants in the voluntary carbon market, the new rules are catalytic.
The ability to generate carbon credits from ecosystems like the Congo Basin, the Sahel savannas, and coastal mangrove forests is no longer hindered by regulatory ambiguity or credibility concerns.
But to seize the moment, countries are under pressure to offer something they’ve historically lacked: irrefutable proof.
African policymakers are now racing to deploy the systems that can translate their climate assets into standardised, bankable products. That means moving beyond anecdotal claims and spot-checks toward rigorous monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) protocols.
Digital MRV—or dMRV as it’s now known in policy and investor circles—has swiftly emerged as the essential infrastructure of carbon commerce. And while Africa holds the land, it’s Europe that’s providing the software.
Vienna-based EcoNetix has become a notable name in this landscape. Originally focused on the European market, the firm has expanded its operations across the African continent, geared to help local governments and project developers deploy data infrastructure to meet the requirements of a new, compliance-aligned carbon market.
“Carbon removal is no longer a theoretical issue or a side topic, but a practical and essential element in achieving our climate goals,” said Jakob Zenz, co-founder of EcoNetix.
“It’s about building trust in new instruments. Developing a credible carbon asset market in Europe is essential, and EcoNetix brings the required know-how and the right business model.”
That trust hinges on traceability, one of the largest pain points in global offset markets—and a key focus of EcoNetix’s model.
By integrating data across project development, certification, and trading, the firm acts as both asset manager and infrastructure layer for cross-border CO₂ transactions.
While EcoNetix is not the only company building this kind of digital scaffolding, it has emerged as one of the first to directly align its platform with the EU’s forthcoming Carbon Removal Certification Framework (CRCF), a legal blueprint that will soon underpin large-scale purchasing programs and public-private partnerships.
For African carbon ventures eyeing European buyers, that detail could prove decisive.
In recent months, African ministries of environment and clean energy financiers have begun scouting for partners that can future-proof their offset portfolios by meeting not only today’s voluntary market standards but tomorrow’s compliance-grade thresholds.
Africa’s potential scale is difficult to overstate. The African Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI), launched at COP27, has projected that the continent could supply up to 300 million credits per year by 2030, unlocking 30 million jobs and more than $6 billion in annual income for landowners, governments, and local enterprises. That’s up from an estimated 23 million credits in 2022.
Much of the current growth is concentrated in land-based removals—like afforestation, soil carbon, and blue carbon projects along the coast—but newer pathways, such as biochar and direct air capture (DAC), are beginning to gain traction in African R&D circles as well.
According to Zenz, Africa holds some of the world’s biggest carbon sinks, including the Congo Basin and vast rainforest regions.
He also pointed to the continent’s scale, natural resources, and growing pool of young, educated workers as key strengths in building a high-impact carbon market.
In Africa, that infrastructure is still being built. But signs of acceleration abound. Kenya recently approved a national carbon market framework, Nigeria is revising its forest carbon regulations, and Uganda has partnered with private sector players to pilot digital carbon registries. Many of these initiatives are supported—directly or indirectly—by European technology providers.
While skeptics warn of greenwashing risks and uneven benefit-sharing, proponents argue that with the right safeguards, the alignment between African natural assets and European regulatory momentum could become one of the most consequential finance flows of the next decade.
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