Bridging ambition and investment

The African Climate Foundation and Dalberg developed the NDC Investment Planner (NIP) to help African governments translate Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) from broad policy frameworks into bankable project pipelines. The NIP provides a structured, three-stage process—Identify, Evaluate, and Select and Act—to align climate ambition with investment logic and economic transformation goals.

• Africa faces a significant climate finance gap, with only approximately 11% of its US$279 billion annual climate-finance requirement being met, and only 14% of that funding originating from the private sector.
• Despite increased ambition in planning—with 47 countries submitting second-generation NDCs (NDCs 2.0) and 17 submitting third-generation NDCs (NDCs 3.0) by early November 2025—implementation is hindered by a lack of investment-ready plans and thin project pipelines.
• Gap assessments in Nigeria, Senegal, and Tanzania identified systemic barriers to NDC implementation, including weak investment planning, a lack of enabling environments (such as energy subsidies that undermine project viability), and limited monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) capacity.
• The NDC Investment Planner (NIP) is a three-stage iterative framework: Stage 1 identifies mitigation and adaptation needs and business models; Stage 2 evaluates these opportunities based on investment and economic transformation potential; and Stage 3 selects and implements actions.
• The NIP's evaluation stage uses a matrix to categorize opportunities into four quadrants: Priority focus areas, High impact but weaker risk-return, Low to moderate impact but stronger risk-return, and Low-potential or context-dependent opportunities.
• Based on the NIP evaluation, countries can pursue four action pathways: refining analysis for priority areas, changing opportunities through policy or incentives, building portfolios to align with mandates, and preparing specific projects to be bankable.
• An analysis of early NDC 3.0 targets from Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Zambia, and Zimbabwe indicates that most lack clear cost breakdowns for climate opportunities and strategies to mobilize investment.
• Ethiopia, Morocco, South Africa, and Zimbabwe are highlighted as having developed and submitted all three key climate planning requirements: NAPs, LT-LEDs, and NDCs 3.0.

APA

African Climate Foundation (2026). Bridging ambition and investment. https://africanclimatefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/801123-ACF-Dalberg-Socialisation-05A-2.pdf

Chicago

African Climate Foundation. Bridging ambition and investment. 2026. https://africanclimatefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/801123-ACF-Dalberg-Socialisation-05A-2.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=African Climate Foundation |title=Bridging ambition and investment |date=2026 |url=https://africanclimatefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/801123-ACF-Dalberg-Socialisation-05A-2.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{africanclimatefoundation2026bridging, author = {{African Climate Foundation}}, title = {{Bridging ambition and investment}}, institution = {African Climate Foundation}, year = {2026}, url = {https://africanclimatefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/801123-ACF-Dalberg-Socialisation-05A-2.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }