More than a dozen companies, including some from Saudi Arabia, will bid on more than 2 million tonnes of carbon credits on Wednesday when the Kenyan capital hosts what organisers have billed as the world's largest sale of its kind.
The auction in Nairobi will be conducted by the Regional Voluntary Carbon Market Company (RVCMC), which was founded by the Saudi Public Investment Fund and Saudi Tawadul Group.
The certified credits that are sold will fund either projects that avoid emissions by using susta inable technologies or remove carbon from the atmosphere, RVCMC said in a statement, without naming the specific companies that will participate.
"This includes the supply of improved clean cookstoves to communities in Kenya and Rwanda and renewable energy projects in Egypt and South Africa," it said.
Critics of carbon markets have in the past cited concerns including poor transparency, a limited supply of credits and questions over the quality of projects.
RVCMC held its first auction in Riyadh last October, where 1.4 million tonnes of carbon credits were sold.
Nairobi was chosen to host the second event to showcase the potential of voluntary carbon markets in attracting investments into frontier economies, RVCMC said.
The World Bank said last week that Kenya could turn the threat it faces from climate change into an opportunity by courting green investments from international investors.
The East African nation contributes less than 1% of the annual global greenhouse gases emissions, the bank said, offering it opportunities to increase offerings of carbon credits.
