Budgeting for NDC action: initial lessons from four climate-vulnerable countries

The paper examines the alignment between national budgets and NDC commitments in four sub-Saharan African countries. It finds that while some ministries show rising budget projections, there are significant discrepancies between planned and actual spending. The analysis reveals that limited domestic resources are allocated to NDC actions, with a heavy reliance on international donor support. The author suggests that programme-based budgeting and Medium-Term Expenditure Frameworks offer opportunities to better track and report climate spending, though current precision remains low.

• There is a significant gap between projected budget estimates and actual spending in the reviewed countries, which may hinder the rapid implementation of new climate programmes.
• Early implementation of NDCs in Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda is heavily dependent on international financial support due to limited domestic resource allocation.
• Budgetary reforms, specifically the introduction of programme-based budgeting, have improved the potential for identifying climate-related expenditures, although challenges in linking specific inputs to adaptation outcomes remain.
• In Ghana, a specific 'climate change budget' was developed using 30 policy objective budget codes, though the highest projected spending in this budget remains highly dependent on donor contributions.
• Uganda's budget documentation shows a significant recognition of climate change, with references to adaptation and mitigation found across 22 budget codes in the agriculture, forestry, water, and energy sectors.
• Kenya's NDC commitments are strongly linked to its national development plan, with significant planned investments specifically in geothermal generation and rail transport.

APA

Bird, N. (2017). Budgeting for NDC action: initial lessons from four climate-vulnerable countries. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/National-budgeting-for-NDCs_web.pdf

Chicago

Bird, Neil. Budgeting for NDC action: initial lessons from four climate-vulnerable countries. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2017. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/National-budgeting-for-NDCs_web.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Bird |first1=Neil |title=Budgeting for NDC action: initial lessons from four climate-vulnerable countries |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=September 2017 |url=https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/National-budgeting-for-NDCs_web.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{bird2017budgeting, author = {Bird, Neil}, title = {{Budgeting for NDC action: initial lessons from four climate-vulnerable countries}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2017}, month = sep, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/National-budgeting-for-NDCs_web.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }