Without intervention, African cities—like so many of their counterparts around the world— are headed towards becoming major carbon emission hotspots. But this outcome isn’t inevitable. With thoughtful strategies and proper planning, the continent’s cities could instead prioritise infrastructure that serves a dual purpose: improving residents’ lives whilst acting as dynamic tools to capture carbon from the atmosphere. Africa’s cities have boundless opportunities to become major carbon sinks. It is not wishful thinking to imagine this transformation.
Here’s how it could happen.
Turning cities into equitable carbon sinks requires data-driven planning that breaks down administrative barriers and professional silos. Hyperlocal data ecosystems—encompassing satellite mapping, community-led vulnerability assessments, and urban metabolism analyses—are essential for identifying where nature-based interventions like urban forests and wetlands can maximise carbon sequestration whilst simultaneously addressing systemic inequities in service access. Yet geospatial tools alone won’t suffice. They must be woven together with participatory approaches that put citizen engagement at the centre.
Cities can craft integrated spatial plans that protect cross-boundary carbon-rich ecosystems and prioritise green infrastructure in underserved neighbourhoods. We already know this works. Take the collaboration between the World Resources Institute (WRI) and Kampala to map informal settlements and wetlands. This partnership has enabled evidence-based policies that protec vulnerable communities from flooding while preserving critical carbon sinks.
Beyond their visual appeal, urban forests, tree canopies, and green corridors represent vital infrastructure. They absorb carbon dioxide, reduce heat islands, control water run-off, and enhance biodiversity. Addis Ababa’s “Green Legacy” campaign targets planting 20 million trees annually, blending afforestation with community engagement. Such efforts need strategic scaling. In South Africa, Durban’s resilience strategy mandates green space ratios—a promising start towards policy that both promotes urban forest preservation and improves underserved areas. Tools like the Tree Equity Score help cities identify and address disparities in green space access, ensuring benefits reach every neighbourhood.
Water systems that include healthy wetlands, mangroves, and river banks form the lifeblood of carbon sequestration. Well-managed water resources are crucial for sustaining green urban infrastructure. African cities can develop more robust water management by adopting integrated frameworks that align stormwater systems with urban forestry goals. Nature-based solutions—restoring watersheds, constructing permeable surfaces to combat flooding and recharge groundwater—offer another strategy. Equally important is addressing water equity to ensure that informal settlements, which often lack drainage infrastructure, receive priority in climate adaptation plans.
While mitigating emissions, cities must take additional steps to reduce their carbon footprints. The transport sector, which contributes nearly a quarter of global carbon dioxide emissions, presents a key target. The potential of electric public transit and non-motorised transport networks, combined with effective speed management and transit-oriented development, cannot be overstated. Lagos’s recently launched Blue and Red Line rail systems integrate with non-motorised mobility options. Pedestrian walkways and overhead bridges for safe passenger access to rail and bus stations have been carefully considered—representing a significant shift for Lagos. The use of windpower in Cape Town exemplifies strategies available to cities seeking to decarbonise urban energy systems. Pair these efforts with rooftop solar installations and green building standards, and the beginnings of a robust carbon mitigation agenda emerge.
Achieving resource efficiency represents the holy grail of any successful mitigation and sequestration strategy. Among WRI’s initiatives is a programme called Accelerating the Circular Economy for Food (ACE4Food), which focuses on the food-energy nexus. It supports efforts to decrease food loss and waste, effectively utilise unavoidable food waste, and encourages regenerative agricultural practices. In Accra, community-led composting initiatives have diverted landfill waste whilst creating jobs. Rwanda has enhanced food security by reducing post-harvest losses and converting organic waste into compost, improving soil fertility and crop yields for over 5,000 smallholder farmers. Similarly, using rice husks for biochar production exemplifies sensible repurposing of industrial byproducts that can lock carbon into soil, as does Dar es Salaam’s circular water system, which reuses treated wastewater for urban farming.
Our experiences have shown beyond doubt that topdown interventions, however well-intentioned, will fail. Local buy-in and citizen participation remain essential ingredients for success. In Freetown, Sierra Leone, the “Freetown the Tree Town” campaign engaged citizens to plant one million trees to replace the countless numbers sacrificed to the city’s massive expansion—a loss that was devastating indeed. In 2017, floods and landslides tore through Freetown, claiming lives amongst residents of informal settlements. As usual, the city’s poorest residents proved most vulnerable, bearing the brunt of environmental emergencies. It’s crucial that people in these communities participate in every aspect of intervention—from
setting goals to co-designing solutions. Lusaka has initiated programmes to train women and youths in rainwater harvesting and urban forestry, proving that grassroots capacity-building can simultaneously advance social equity.
Two unavoidable truths emerge: none of this can happen without both political will and sustainable financing. Without political leadership that grasps the urgency and necessity of interventions with clear potential, any possible success remains compromised from the start. Simultaneously, exploring innovative funding for carbon sequestration initiatives is essential. Public-private partnerships can unlock funding, while blended finance mechanisms like Cape Town’s green bonds must be used to channel capital towards green infrastructure.
African cities don’t need to choose between development and sustainability—both must be addressed simultaneously. The catastrophic 2017 landslides in Freetown and the devastating destruction of property and loss of life in Durban in 2022 are among many reminders of this reality.
African cities don’t need to choose between development and sustainability—both must be addressed simultaneously. The catastrophic 2017 landslides in Freetown and the devastating destruction of property and loss of life in Durban in 2022 are among many reminders of this reality.
