African leaders are calling for a new approach to measuring the continent’s green wealth, one that fully accounts for its rich natural capital. They argue that current methods of calculating Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are outdated and fail to capture the true economic value of Africa’s environmental assets. The leaders are calling for a balance with recognition of the assets within the continent as a bargain.
During a convening co-hosted by the African Union Commission and the African Development Bank Group at the African Union Mission to the United States, leaders emphasized the need for reform. The event took place on the sidelines of the 2025 Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
According to Ambassador Hilda Suka-Mafudze, Permanent Representative of the African Union Mission to the U.S, there’s a need to talk the talk and walk the talk. He pointed out that it is time to turn our commitments and pledges into concrete actions, and that should start with a re-evaluation of Africa’s green wealth.
“We must invest in our national accounting systems. Accurate valuation of our wealth will allow us to build asset bases that can be leveraged for shared prosperity and sustainable development,” said Ambassador Hilda.
A central focus of the event was a 2024 report by the African Development Bank Group titled Measuring the Green Wealth of Nations: Natural Capital and Economic Productivity in Africa.
Based on the report, findings that were presented by Professor Kevin Urama, the Bank’s Chief Economist and Vice President, including only the value of carbon sequestered in African forests, would have added $66.1 billion to the continent’s GDP in 2022, an increase of approximately 2.2%.
“Africa’s green wealth and the global ecosystem services it provides are largely excluded from traditional economic valuations,” Urama said. “This leads to a significant underestimation of GDP across African nations.”
Leaders stressed that a more comprehensive valuation of Africa’s natural resources would transform its financial prospects. Revealing that it would improve national credit profiles, unlock greater access to global finance, and enable increased investment in green economies and climate-resilient infrastructure.
This renewed call comes ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) scheduled for November in Belém, Brazil. African representatives are expected to advocate for a reformed global financial architecture that better reflects Africa’s contributions to sustainability and global public goods.
“It is time for us to redefine our identity as Africa,” said Nigerien Prime Minister Ali Lamine Zeine during a panel discussion on implementing the 2025 System of National Accounts (SNA). “Africa is underestimated. We must work strategically to change this.”
Panelists noted that several African countries still operate under SNAs developed as early as 1968. The SNA is a global standard for compiling national economic accounts and is critical for measuring and comparing economic performance.
Rindra Rabarinirinarison, Madagascar’s Minister of Economy and Finance, emphasized the need for enhanced technology transfer and technical capacity to support African countries in building robust systems for natural capital accounting. She noted that Madagascar had launched pilot projects to measure the value of its natural resources.
“Madagascar is a rich country, but not rich,” she said, referring to the nation’s extensive natural resources yet limited economic output.
Erich Strassner of the IMF’s Statistics Department described the report as transformational and expressed the Fund’s readiness to collaborate with the African Development Bank, the World Bank, and national governments to implement its recommendations. He stressed the importance of country-specific priorities in adopting the new accounting systems.
Ambassador Suka-Mafudze, citing data from the African Development Bank, noted that if countries adjusted their GDP based on forest carbon sequestration alone, GDP could rise by 38.2% in Côte d’Ivoire, 36.7% in Benin, and 33.5% in Niger. “When we properly value Africa’s green wealth, we enhance our risk profiles and broaden access to development finance,” she said.
In his remarks, Professor Urama highlighted that Africa’s natural resources were valued at $6.2 trillion in 2018. The continent also accounts for 26% of global forest-based carbon capture, despite contributing only 4% to global carbon emissions.
He added that informal economic activities and ecosystem services are typically not captured in GDP figures. Integrating these through Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) and an updated SNA framework could boost GDP figures and facilitate access to sustainable finance.
“This is not just about correcting statistics,” Urama explained. “It’s about ensuring comparability in GDP measures across nations. Updating our national accounts ensures that we’re no longer comparing apples to oranges.”
Urama called on African governments to allocate sufficient budgets to modernize their accounting systems and rebased their GDPs. “This is a smart investment with immediate returns,” he said.
Professor Victor Murinde, Executive Secretary of the African Economic Research Consortium, described the African Development Bank’s new model as a major breakthrough.
“This is a bold step toward addressing a long-standing methodological gap in GDP measurement. Its recommendations offer valuable tools for economists and policymakers to redefine how we assess national wealth,” he said.
