East African Carbon Company Launches to Build High Integrity Carbon Credits on Behalf of African Governments

Explore East African Carbon Company’s innovative model for developing sustainable, transparent carbon projects aligned with global climate frameworks.

December 15, 2025, United Arab Emirates / Kampala, Uganda – East African Carbon Company (EACC), a purpose-built institution dedicated to developing high-integrity carbon markets across Africa, today announced its official launch. EACC has been established to serve as a trusted, government-aligned facilitator of carbon markets supporting national climate goals, protecting public land, restoring ecosystems, and mobilising climate finance for African governments and communities.

EACC works directly with national and regional governments to design and implement carbon projects that are consistent with domestic laws, natural-resource priorities, and global climate frameworks. EACC’s model is built around sovereign leadership, transparent governance and benefits that remain rooted in local communities.

Naveed Tariq, Chief Investment Officer at EACC, said: “Governments in Africa need trusted partners who work hand-in-hand with governments, communities and investors under a framework of inclusivity, transparency and agency for the host countries. Our model is built around national priorities for the economic wellbeing of people, climate resilience, and integrated global markets in harmony with each other. When these three are aligned, climate aligned investments will protect land, strengthen livelihoods and rebalance the planet. This is the future investors increasingly demand, and the opportunities emerging from East Africa are both significant and long overdue.”

EACC’s operational model is anchored in formal partnerships with East African governments, most notably Uganda’s Ministry of Water and Environment. Through these partnerships, EACC develops nature-based projects that protect public land, regenerate forests and restore degraded ecosystems, creating verified carbon credits under internationally aligned mechanisms including the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM) and Article 6. Through this first of its kind climate centered public-private partnership, both parties are committed to creating a positive legacy.

EACC’s approach is explicitly inclusive by design. Projects are co-developed with government agencies, local authorities, and community representatives, ensuring women, youth, and smallholder farmers are meaningfully involved in planning, training, and long-term benefit pathways.

Early feasibility work conducted jointly in Uganda’s protected areas has identified 714,000 hectares suitable for restoration and long-term protection, representing an estimated 18.5 million tonnes of carbon-sequestration potential over 40 years. Initial phases are expected to train 5,000 farmers, create over 1,000 direct jobs, and contribute meaningfully to Uganda’s national priorities such as Vision 2040, the National Climate Change Act, and Uganda’s NDCs.

The launch of EACC comes at a time when the global voluntary carbon market is shifting toward stricter regulation, transparency, and government oversight. Many African governments have expressed concerns about opaque private-sector activity, weak benefit-sharing structures, and projects negotiated without sufficient sovereign oversight, raising the risk of ‘carbon extraction’ without local gain. Across the continent, new carbon-market regulations are being introduced to address these gaps and to ensure that host countries retain control over authorisation, pricing, and community returns.

EACC’s model directly addresses these concerns by working in teams comprising of central, local and EACC teams at every stage of project design and implementation. It ensures transparent measurement, reporting, and verification, supported by geospatial monitoring systems aligned with Uganda’s new Climate Change Mechanisms Regulations. The working model also entails community engagement and participation with access to equitable benefit-sharing throughout the life of each project. 

With demand surging for credible carbon credits, particularly in Europe and Asia, East Africa is fast emerging as one of the world’s most desirable regions for high-integrity climate-finance investments. This includes growing interest from long-term institutional capital and family offices in the GCC seeking durable, nature-positive investments with measurable legacy impact.

As markets mature, investors and buyers are increasingly placing greater value on strong legal frameworks that provide clarity and long-term security for all parties. High-quality monitoring has become a central requirement, as buyers seek confidence in the permanence and accuracy of climate results. The future of climate finance in Africa must be defined by equity and trade, not extraction.