In 2023, a company based in the UAE – which is hosting this year’s COP28 – started pursuing carbon deals with countries in Africa. The company’s name is Blue Carbon. The chairman of Blue Carbon is Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum, a member of Dubai’s royal family.

Among the negotiations to be concluded at COP28 are rules on international carbon offset markets and country-to-country carbon trades. The Blue Carbon trades should also be viewed in that context, as an example of what carbon deals under Article 6 might look like -- because Blue Carbon is presenting its deals at the COP28 summit as a ‘blueprint’ for carbon trading.

Blue Carbon is a private company, but it is also intertwined with the UAE government. CLARA is curious as to whether the push to get deals done prior to COP28 was also intended to influence outcomes on Article 6.2 and 6.4 at COP28. In particular, CLARA members are interested in outcomes related to transparency, benefits for those countries concluding agreements with Blue Carbon, as well as the rights of those in proposed carbon-project areas. 

Different publications have written about these land deals:

Le Monde:

Liberia set to concede 10% of its territory to Emirati company for carbon credit production

Bloomberg:

Dubai-Based Blue Carbon Signs MOU With Zimbabwe on Carbon Credits

Wall Street Journal:

Big Oil Producer Lines Up African Carbon Deals Ahead of Climate Talks

The Guardian:

The new scramble for Africa: How a UAE sheikh quietly made carbon deals

CNN:

A UAE company has secured African land the size of the UK for controversial carbon offset projects

CLARA member FERN contributed this commentary to the news service Mongabay:

Control of Africa’s forests must not be sold to carbon offset companies

A number of civil society groups contributed to a statement about the Blue Carbon land deals:

Blue Carbon and the New Scramble for Africa’s Forests

As the United Arab Emirates (UAE) prepares to host the crucial COP28 climate summit, a company run by one of the oil-producing country’s royal family is acquiring vast areas of forest in Africa, in order to generate controversial carbon offset credits.

Blue Carbon LLC, a private company based in Dubai, is finalising deals with at least six African countries to acquire huge swathes of their forests to harvest carbon credits. Although the deals are shrouded in secrecy, it appears that at least 25 million ha of forests – an area larger than the UK – is being handed to Blue Carbon.

These deals not only pose serious risks to the lives and livelihoods of millions of people living in these areas, they also undermine the possibility of these countries being able to use these forests to meet their own climate commitments. And as these credits could be used by UAE and other rich, polluting countries to increase fossil fuel development, it will further deepen the climate crisis.

Read the full statement on the FERN website.