PM’s order on climate finance mobilisation programme: Life-saving instrument of national dev’t put to sleep so soon?.

This act, after so many years of inter-ministerial fighting and conflicts even at the intra-ministerial level, gave 'gain de cause' to the Ministry of Finance. This for me is an act and instrument of sovereignty.

An extremely logical decision/outcome because, despite international agreements, standards and quantities they work on, at the end of the day, trading on sophisticated markets, taking positions, visibilities and swaps, especially those that are beginning to be interesting for us-like 'swaps for nature', require the skills of our compatriots in the Ministry of Finance. Of course, the elements leading to the decisions they make would come from experts in other technical ministries.

This leads me to the question was anyone paying attention to this life-saving instrument of our national development? Somebody must have, least of all, to know who won the battle. 

But I have never, in my career, at home or abroad, seen such "building blocks" towards the creation of an inter-generational sovereign wealth fund put to sleep so shortly after creation. Even so, the usual buzz about who goes to meetings, this time COP 30 from the 10th to the 21 of November, 2025 in Belem - Brazil intensifies.

Background

The International Agreement on the Environment and Climate Change, signed in Paris in 2015 (The Paris Agreement), is a binding international treaty on climate change that aims to limit global warming to well below 20C, preferably to 1.50C, compared to the pre-industrial levels. The agreement entered into force on November 4, 2016, and operates on a five-year cycle of increasingly ambitious climate action plans submitted by each signatory.

The key goals and provisions are as follows:

What is at stake?

What us at stake is to keep the ambient global temperature increase down to below 1.50C.

As Former U.S. Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson, puts it: "We are about to undertake a $120 trillion re-industrialisation of the world. And Carbon will be the currency that will facilitate a lot of this industrial transition". 

This re-industrialisation, he argues, needs to happen to enable us to achieve our targets in temperature reduction going forward.

Carbon and other emissions reductions and carbon dioxide removals are both ways to achieve the above goals and provide a means for countries, especially developing countries, to earn income either through projects under Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation in Developing countries (REDD+), carbon credits and carbon removal credits.

I would argue for carbon removal credits for two reasons:

The market visibility shows, already, a 50% gap in the demand and supply of carbon removal credits by 2030.

Cameroon has declared, under our BONN Engagement, to have approximately 12 million hectares of degraded forests (a few years ago now, mind you) and we intend to rehabilitate these by 2030. As we rehabilitate these degraded forests, we can earn money, good money at that.

In other words, we can help countries and industry meet their carbon footprint reduction commitments by selling our credits achieved though carbon sequestration and forest rehabilitation projects through vibrant existing carbon markets like we do for cocoa and coffee commodities by being in compliance with Article 6: 6.2 and 6.4 of the Paris Agreement "Authorisation for use". This means with prove that these credits contribute to Internationally Tradable Mitigation Outcomes, ITMOS, and the country has the sovereignty right to transfer these credits to any third party. The mitigated outcomes, in this case, being the reduction of "free" carbon dioxide, converted to oxygen by the trees we would have planted or any other measures that fall under the compliance dispositions of Art: 6 cited supra.

As we create and build on carbon credits, we need to remember that they can be reversed if measures that go against the environmental gains are compromised or destroyed. For example, at the beginning of the agricultural seasons in most of the country, the landscape becomes one large fire ball; fauna and flora are destroyed only for the little potash that provides the initial greenery with millions of tons of CO2, and other dangerous gases emitted in the process.

I call on those to whom the responsibility has been given, through this Prime Minister's instrument, to convene post-haste the various structures therein.

Investors are waiting, as Cameroon is a very attractive destination, youths are waiting for thousands of jobs to be produced by the implementation of projects.

Communities would thrive as they would much rather live nearby living and active forests than dying and degraded ones. There will be infrastructure development; environmental gains through restoration of plant and animal biodiversity including more endangered species, creation of woodlots to create sustainable wood supply and decrease pressure on forests as well as move towards at least seven of the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs.

What is happening around us?

The Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, and Gabon are clustering for regional dominance while the preferential destination for many investors remains Cameroon.

Gabon has become recipient of millions of dollars in grants from impactful investors, e.g, Jeff Bezos, owner of AMAZON, only two years ago.

DRC recently modified its Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development into a Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development to which is attached a Minister Delegate in charge of the New Carbon Economy. This new Minister Delegate works in close collaboration with the Minister of Finance, even though under the Ministry of Environment and ensures- internally, management and updating the NDC, carbon accounting, carbon tax, inter alia and externally, Paris Agreement, carbon markets and their evolution, climate matters, generally. This structure looks to me the “vertebral column" for the structure contained in the Honorable Prime Minister's Order cited supra.

A word to the wise is sufficient or is it something like the early birds eat the fattest worms or am I just 'OL SKUUL'?

By Hope Sona Ebai: He is an Agricultural Economist; Chairman of the Board of Directors of Cameroon Development Corporation, CDC, Bota, Limbe.

Hank Paulson

Executive Chairman, TPG Rise Climate and Former United States Secretary of Treasury