Kenya opened the continent's first climate exchange platform last week, which is expected to increase foreign investor interest in the region by as much as $1 billion, according to Reuters. Tsuma Charo, chief executive officer at Africa Carbon Exchange, said that 17 projects are awaiting registration, and three have received approval. Earlier this month, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) registered its first project, a degraded forest replanted by a community looking to raise revenue for local peoples. James Mwangi, managing director at GreenNext Sustainability Ltd., a Kenyan environmental management consulting firm, said that attempts to sell credits to international buyers who have access to global markets have resulted in low earnings due to high transaction costs. "With a local exchange we can probably try and influence the prices because the transactional costs are lower," Mwangi said. Kenya is already home to a number of carbon-reducing projects, and will soon contain more. Job Kihumba, the chairman of the exchange, has stated that the exchange will encourage Kenyans to either use more energy efficient technology or engage in reforestation. In addition, sporting goods company PUMA announced last week that it will offset its 2010 carbon emissions by purchasing REDD credits generated by a wildlife conservation habitat in Kenya. For the full story, see http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/24/us-africa-carbonexchange-idUSTRE72N4NL20110324. For the story on the project in the DRC, see http://www.newenergyworldnetwork.com/renewable-energy-news/41613.html. For PUMA and REDD, see http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0322-puma_wildlifeworks.html.