Africa may benefit from carbon capture fund

The continent of Africa is likely to benefit from a fund that has been launched in Europe to invest in companies that capture and remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, a story on the website of Fin Alternatives has said.

According to the story, Copenhagen, Denmark-based Danfonds is readying a pair of new offerings to be added as separate classes of its maiden hedge fund, Danfonds Frontier Funds SPC.

It said, the firm is currently in talks with C-Questor, a cleantech company, to launch Carbon Class Shares under the Frontier Markets umbrella. The sub-fund will invest in early stage companies that capture and remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere using silvicultural (tree) sequestration, aquacultural (marine) sequestration, geological (sub-surface) sequestration and terrestrial (land) sequestration.

The fund will also invest in companies exploiting alternative renewable energy sources such as the sun, wind, biomass and waves, which produce either little or no greenhouse gases.

The carbon share class will initially be closed to outside investors and initial seed funding will come from C-Questor and other sources.

In addition, the firm is in negotiations with an external team of managers to launch an African credit fund.

The report quoted a written statement by Danfonds’ CEO in a published article. The CEO, Daniel Broby wrote, “The vast majority of African countries have rudimentary fixed income markets, with debt instruments of short duration. Government bonds do not exist in most African countries but their arrival and/or increased sophistication is imminent.”

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi