The Africa Biogas Partnership Programme comprises a partnership between Hivos and SNV and targets support to national biogas programmes in six African countries – Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Senegal and Burkina Faso. The overall objective of the programme is to contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals through the dissemination of domestic biogas plants as a local, sustainable energy source through the development of a commercially viable, market-oriented biogas sector.
To ensure long-term financial sustainability, the programme aims to tap into international carbon markets to monetize generated emission reductions. Climate Focus is supporting Hivos with the setup of a Programme of Activities (PoA), which will generate carbon credits. Sold credits will generate revenues that will be fed back into the programme to support further dissemination of biodigesters across the region. The PoA was registered under the voluntary Gold Standard in June 2015, with its first VPA covering biodigester implementation in Kenya. Climate Focus is currently working on the inclusion of additional VPAs in Tanzania and Uganda, as well as providing monitoring, reporting and verification support.
The PoA aims to support the work of the African Biogas Partnership Programme in making biodigester technologies affordable and accessible to farmers across the East African region.
While contributing to valuable emission reductions, the benefits of this programme extend well beyond this. They include improved lung health from reduced indoor air pollution, improved crop yields through the use of bio-slurry as a fertilizer, the creation of a labor market for domestic biogas and reduced deforestation and forest degradation, among others.
