GoL Prioritizes US$8.4 Billion Carbon Goal as a Pillar of West Africa’s Market Integration Strategy

Dakar/Monrovia: The Government of Liberia, through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has reaffirmed its strategic commitment to mobilizing US$8.4 billion within five years under the government’s Accelerated Recovery and Economic Rebuilding for Transformation (ARREST) Agenda for Inclusive Development (AAID). This initiative will serve as a cornerstone of West Africa’s emerging carbon market integration.

By: Abraham Sylvester Panto

The long-term fiscal target, central to Liberia’s climate and development financing strategy, was presented as a regional model during the second West Africa Carbon Market Hub Workshop held over the weekend in Dakar, Senegal. EPA's Executive Director and Ambassador to the West African Carbon Alliance and Climate Finance, Dr. Emmanuel Urey Yarkpawolo, introduced a results-driven framework focused on leveraging Article 6 of the Paris Agreement to accelerate institutional collaboration, the monetization of carbon credits, and regional access to climate finance.

Held at the RIU BAOBAB Hotel in Dakar, the high-level workshop brought together ministers, environmental technocrats, and diplomatic officials from more than fifteen West African nations. The EPA of Liberia emerged as a technical anchor, promoting both the national ARREST Agenda and West Africa’s ambition to transition from fragmented interventions to coordinated market engagement. The EPA’s detailed policy pathway underscored carbon revenue generation as a viable mechanism for economic growth and ecological protection.

At the heart of the EPA’s intervention was Liberia’s US$8.4 billion mobilization target as a strategic tool to transform its forests and mangroves, comprising more than 40 percent of West Africa’s remaining forest cover, into commercially viable carbon sinks. Executive Director Yarkpawolo emphasized that Liberia’s revised Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) 3.0 aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 64 percent by 2030 compared to business-as-usual benchmarks.

The EPA’s institutional posture prioritizes measurable impacts, rigorous adaptation strategies, and market readiness, ensuring Liberia is not sidelined in the global shift toward climate accountability. In advancing this approach, the EPA also made a case for developing a unified West African platform that could streamline the administration of climate finance, enforce consistent monitoring and verification standards, and open pathways for joint project execution.

Acknowledging the technical support from the West African Alliance on Carbon Markets and Climate Finance, the EPA noted that ongoing regional alignment has helped Liberia advance internal frameworks capable of supporting scalable climate finance operations. The agency credited the Alliance’s support for enhancing Liberia’s capacity to negotiate and implement complex carbon mechanisms.

Meanwhile, the EPA urged participating states to view carbon markets not as peripheral climate programs but as strategic revenue channels that could replace short-term donor cycles. By harmonizing approaches and investing in institutionally led implementation models, Dr. Yarkpawolo noted, West African nations can jointly build fiscal resilience from ecological assets.