On 3 February 2026, UIC joined a Knowledge Management Session organised by the African Development Bank (AfDB) entitled “Mobilising climate finance for African transport: from concept to implementation”. The webinar focused on Africa’s urgent need to develop low-carbon, climate-resilient transport infrastructure to support urban growth and reduce emissions.
While current barriers to this include fragmented policies, limited financing, and a lack of standardised greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting, new programmes aim to integrate carbon credits and climate finance into transport and logistics projects. Key goals are to unlock climate finance, build institutional capacity, and promote a modal shift to rail and waterways.
The initiative will help generate African transport carbon credits for use in voluntary and compliance markets, while supporting policy alignment with national climate goals and encouraging private investment through blended finance and public-private partnerships (PPPs). To this end, innovative tools include green bonds, sustainability-linked loans, and results-based climate finance.
The essential components for success include standardised emissions methodologies, data systems, and strengthening regional competition through institutions like AfDB and African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD).
During the webinar, UIC gave a presentation on “Carbon Credits 101: How the Voluntary and Compliance Markets Work for Transport Projects” as well as detailing the outcomes of UIC studies on climate finance and rail, including
- Bridging the finance gap: Challenges and opportunities for low and lower-middle-income countries
cop28_rail_lmics_a4_32pp_a-w_6_web_29112023.pdf - Carbon markets and rail: How to overcome missed opportunities
carbon_credits_white_paper.pdf
Additionally, the Indian Institute of Technology, a partner of the Asia-Pacific region, shared insights from one of the UIC’s most recent regional studies, titled “Well-to-Wheel Analysis of Road and Rail Transport: Lessons for Sustainable Transport”.
