Zambia Signs $30M Emission Reductions Purchase Agreement with World Bank

The program has already increased crop yields by over 32% using climate-smart agriculture, created jobs in rural communities, and improved sustainable management of more than 72,000 hectares of forest.

Communities in Zambia’s Eastern Province will soon benefit from their forest conservation and climate-smart agriculture efforts thanks to a new Emission Reductions Purchase Agreement (ERPA) signed today by the Government of the Republic of Zambia and the World Bank’s BioCarbon Fund Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes (ISFL).

This agreement unlocks up to $30 million in results-based payments, rewarding communities in Eastern Province for reducing around three million metric tons of CO2e (Carbon Dioxide equivalent) emissions between 2024 and 2029. By taking an integrated approach to mitigation across the Eastern Province landscape, this initiative aims to achieve significant emission reductions and enhance communities' resilience to climate change. Zambia is the second country to sign an ERPA with the ISFL Program, following Ethiopia last year.

“This ERPA marks an exciting time for Zambia,” said Collins Nzovu, Minister of Green Economy and Environment for Zambia. “Our communities have joined together to improve our environment, adopting better practices in homes and on the land, and now we will begin to reap additional economic benefits from that hard work.”

The emission reduction program builds on the achievements of the Zambia Integrated Forest Landscape Project (ZIFL-P), which is co-financed by grants from ISFL and the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and a loan from the International Development Association (IDA). The program has already increased crop yields by over 32% using climate-smart agriculture, created jobs in rural communities, and improved sustainable management of more than 72,000 hectares of forest.

“With cycles of rain and drought becoming more unpredictable, learning new ways of farming has been extremely important to us,” said Chief Kapatamoyo of Kapatamoyo Chiefdom in the Chipata District. “The best part is we have had stronger harvests which allows us to feed our families and better support our community.”

Payments from the ERPA will provide significant additional funding to the targeted rural communities as greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions are measured, reported, and verified for results-based payment. A Benefit Sharing Plan, prepared with local actors and communities, will ensure that all participating stakeholders are rewarded for their role in reducing emissions.

“This emission reductions program demonstrates that climate mitigation and socioeconomic development can be simultaneously achieved through an innovative landscape approach,” said Achim Fock, World Bank Country Manager for Zambia. “The Eastern Province has shown that this approach can be scaled up to more beneficiaries in other parts of the country.”

In addition to the results-based payments, the emission reductions program includes additional grant funding to continue activities begun under the ZIFL-P. These grants include:

$4 million from ISFL donors to support the expansion of community forestry management

£6 million from the Government of the United Kingdom to support the continued expansion of climate-smart agriculture across Eastern Province

$2 million from GEF for scaling up sustainable landscape management in Eastern Province

This additional funding will support sustainable forestry, climate-smart agriculture, social inclusion, biodiversity conservation, and other activities contributing to further climate mitigation and adaptation in Eastern Province.