The time has come to give value to Africa's immense natural resources in order to accurately determine the gross domestic product (GDP), of the continent and promote its sustainable development, several experts attending the African Development Bank Group's (Bank Group) 2026 Annual Meetings, said.

The experts were speaking at a knowledge-sharing event, held on Friday, 29 May, in Brazzaville, under the theme: "Valuing the Green Wealth of Nations: Biodiversity and Carbon Credits, Ecosystem Services and Economic Productivity in Africa".

The Managing Director of Shelter Afrique, Thierno-Habib Hann, summarised a view shared by all the panellists: "What is not measured is not valued. And what is not valued is not financed." This has negative consequences, particularly for African countries' credit ratings and their access to green finance on international markets.

He referenced the New African Financial Architecture for Development (NAFAD), spearheaded by the Bank Group, and proposed an African Green Finance Architecture (AGFA) to mobilise investment towards environmentally sustainable development in Africa. He drew an analogy with the mining sector, where the value of a listed company's shares is based on the proven reserves of untapped minerals. "So valuation is key" for financing, Hann said.

Gunnar Kohlin, associate professor at the University of Gothenburg and senior advisor to the 'Environment for Development' initiative, referred to the Bank Group's African Economic Outlook (AEO) 2026 in which a "chapter is dedicated to Africa's natural resources, worth around $6 trillion, and how to exploit them."

"Our forests alone sequester 1.5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide. On top of that, in terms of quantifying carbon stocks, we have 30 billion tonnes stored in our peatlands. We don't talk about that! We talk about climate change and the funding to be raised, but we turn our backs on the whole climate economy that allows us to preserve our planet," protested Arlette Soudan-Nonault, the Republic of Congo's Minister for the Environment, Sustainable Development and the Congo Basin. She also criticised economists who fail to include this immense green wealth in their calculation of the wealth of countries such as hers.

Pushpam Kumar, Chief Economist for Environmental Issues at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), was keen to emphasise the need for "appropriate data and capacity" and to "go beyond GDP" when calculating nations' wealth, as recently recommended by the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres.

Referring to the Paris Agreement, Soudan-Nonault highlighted "the Nationally Determined Contribution," which is the fundamental document for accounting for a country's emissions, and this quantification takes natural resources into account." Claudine Uwera, Senior Strategic Adviser in the Office of the Prime Minister of Rwanda, supported her argument and spoke of the efforts being undertaken by her own country.

Africa Green Finance Architecture, the green development bank initiative

To address the liquidity challenge that deprives Africa of the green finance, Thierno-Habib Hann elaborated on the AGFA ("Africa Green Financial Architecture") initiative, which aims to become a green development bank. "We are working very closely with the African Development Bank to create this AGFA platform by involving the 13 financial institutions that are members of the AAMFI Alliance of African Multilateral Financial Institutions (AMFI)," said Mr Hann.

Hann said Shelter Afrique was introducing Green Bonds in capital markets in local currencies across Africa, with initial issuance in the West Africa CFA Zone, and in East Africa as well.

Globally, 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions are from construction, he pointed out; and in Africa there is a housing deficit of between 53 to 56 million housing units. If we're to build those houses using brick and mortar with the usual materials, the climate footprint will negate the gains made elsewhere in other sectors. So, we must build our cities sustainably, and that creates a huge pipeline for green financing," Hann emphasised.

He said, "we are working with property developers across Africa and the African Development Bank to establish the Green Fund for Urban Development."

As a pioneer in the financing of nature-based solutions, Switzerland is also helping to improve data quality in order to strengthen the credibility of the carbon credit market, said Valérie Liechti, Deputy Director-General and Head of the Africa Division at the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), referring to Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. She noted that Switzerland supports the issuance of blue bonds - for example, those of Senegal and The Gambia - and any innovative financing tools to support the scaling up of African economies.

The round table was moderated by Denise Epoté, former Director of News at TV5 Monde Afrique.