Currency of the Green Transition: Understanding Climate Policy in the CFA Franc Zone
Parker Henry, Grace Vera
Andalus Committee New York Office
This policy report from the Andalus Committee's New York Office examines the CFA Franc as a structural obstacle to climate finance and clean energy development across the fourteen nations of the Franc Zone. While the currency's peg to the Euro is often defended as a source of monetary stability, the report argues that it constrains the region's ability to mobilize the green investment that it so urgently needs. This is compounded by institutional fragmentation between WAEMU and CEMAC, as well as a persistent high-risk investment perception, leaving a region that holds 45% of the world's renewable energy potential among the least financed for clean energy. Drawing on case studies from Senegal, Cameroon, Chad, and Côte d'Ivoire, the report proposes a reform agenda spanning monetary policy, blended finance, and energy diversification and reframes the debate over the CFA Franc as a climate imperative, not merely a currency question.
_edited.png)
.png)