African nations want to increase the amount they receive to compensate for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and are looking for ways to implement this idea during COP27, which is being held in Egypt.

"We should look at carbon trading as a budget collection tool for our development agenda," Zambia's Environment Minister Collins Nzovu told AP news agency and quoted by Lusa, speaking on the sidelines of the United Nations Climate Conference (COP27).

"A hasty entry into this market may cause us to lose our cultural heritage and sell at a low price, which we would regret in the future," he said.

Offsetting carbon emissions, traded on a market, allows polluters to cancel out the effects of their emissions by financing initiatives such as tree planting, which are currently cheaper in Africa than in other parts of the world where this carbon market is more tightly regulated.

African nations, writes AP, are trying to organize themselves to demand a higher price in this carbon market so that they can meet their emission reduction targets and move towards clean energy, but this type of trading has come under close scrutiny from environmental activists, who feel that this could give way to a model where countries simply pay to be able to pollute at will.

In carbon trading, one credit issued is equal to one ton of carbon dioxide, another equivalent greenhouse gas removed from the atmosphere; the voluntary market, which remains the dominant one in Africa, has been hit by problems of security and transparency, and AP reports that the continent earns less than $10 per ton of carbon, while in other regions the price can exceed $100 for the same amount.

Still, this carbon scheme has had some success in some countries like Kenya, Tanzania and the Republic of Congo, but lacks regulation.

"High integrity carbon registries, which underpin a supply of high quality, credible credits that are traded on global markets, are critical and will enable African countries to succeed in these processes," said United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Executive Secretary Antonio Pedro.

A study released at COP27 on Saturday by the African Climate Policy Center concluded that the continent has a chance to limit the increase in global growth to 1.5 degrees if the price of carbon credits is pegged at $120 per ton of carbon, which would be worth about $82 billion a year.

For experts, the central issue for the market to function is the credibility of the process and the limitations on what individual companies can trade, i.e. pay to pollute.

"Carbon markets need to be anchored in integrity, as they bring benefits to both investors and communities; there have been bad experiences in the past, and integrity in this market is key," concluded Antonio Pedro.