Economics & Development

In December 2025, Burkina Faso became one of the first countries to successfully issue carbon credits under its national carbon standard, called the ‘Cadre d’Attribution de Crédits Carbone (CACC)’. This national carbon standard was developed following a protocol referred to as the Standardized Crediting Framework (SCF). The SCF is a package of tools that can serve countries that intend to develop a national carbon crediting standard to access carbon finance. The rollout process following the SCF method is an opportunity to build readiness for host countries’ wider participation in carbon markets, including under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. In Burkina Faso, it was financed by the Carbon Initiative for Development (Ci-Dev). The setup of the CACC in Burkina Faso served two purposes: In the short term, it helps generate carbon credits for projects previously registered under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), as they are facing the consequences of the end of the CDM. Additionally, the setup of the CACC using the SCF approach delivered practical benefits that will help the country with its long-term carbon market development and Article 6 readiness, including strengthened institutional capacity, improved understanding of carbon crediting processes, early mobilization of carbon finance, and registry discussions. In this sense, the CACC in Burkina Faso is not considered a ‘product’ but rather a foundational asset that is part of the broader set of tools that can help the government in its readiness to access carbon finance. Lessons learned highlight the importance of embedding the CACC into an existing national governance system and getting a clear legal anchoring in national regulations. Moreover, the rollout of the CACC accelerated once the Article 6-related elements were separated from the CACC implementation discussions. Finally, additional lessons were learned regarding the World Bank modalities used to support the rollout of the CACC according to the SCF approach.