In the lead-up to COP30 in Belém, Brazil, African leaders are pushing for a radical change in how national wealth is calculated, putting natural capital at the centre of economic calculations. Africa’s natural wealth is being positioned as a strategic tool for development and climate resilience. The African Union Commission and African Development Bank (AfDB) mobilised support for a new approach prioritising ecosystem services and green assets during a high-level event at the 2025 World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings.

 Ambassador Hilda Suda-Mafudze, Permanent Representative of the African Union Mission to the United States, advised African states to update their national accounting systems. “Now is the moment to fulfil our promises.” According to her, valuing our natural capital will boost our economies and promote sustainable growth.

AfDB’s 2024 report, Measuring the Green Wealth of Nations: Natural Capital and Economic Productivity in Africa, which highlights the continent’s enormous unrealised economic potential, was the main topic of discussion. The analysis claims that only factoring in the value of carbon stored in African forests could have increased Africa’s GDP by 2.2%, or $66.1 billion, in 2022. If carbon sequestration were considered, GDP in nations like Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, and Niger might increase by more than 30%.

AfDB Vice President and Chief Economist Professor Kevin Urama stressed that standard GDP measures generally ignore Africa’s $6.2 trillion in natural capital, which accounts for 26% of the world’s forest-based carbon capture. “The actual richness of Africa is underestimated. To enable sustainable finance and more equitable international comparisons, natural capital, ecosystem services, and informal economies must be considered, according to Urama. 

Prime Minister Ali Lamine Zeine of Niger and Finance Minister Rindra Rabarinirinarison of Madagascar were among the leaders from throughout the continent who emphasised the need to update the antiquated systems of national accounts (SNAs), several of which are from 1968. To mainstream natural capital accounting, they emphasised the necessity of increased investment, data systems, and technical capability.

Erich Strassner, an IMF representative, described the AfDB study as “transformational” and reaffirmed the Fund’s willingness to collaborate with African countries to implement revised SNAs. “Data alone isn’t the issue here. The goal is to alter how the world economy views Africa,” he stated. 

The African Development Bank is leading the charge to facilitate this shift. This entails creating uniform valuation instruments, coordinating economic policy with environmental objectives, educating regional specialists, and assisting nations in making money off of their environmental contributions through international carbon markets. The Bank is also creating the African Natural Capital Accounting Community of Practice to promote regional cooperation.

The African Economic Research Consortium’s Prof. Victor Murinde hailed the idea as a “bold step” to close methodological discrepancies in how countries measure their wealth.

Ahead of COP30, Africa is reinventing its own development story and establishing a standard for global climate-smart accounting by centralising green assets in economic strategy.