Economic Assessment of the Impacts of Climate Change in Uganda

The report estimates that making Uganda's infrastructure climate-resilient will cost between US$52-66 million annually by 2020, rising to US$638-1,157 million by 2050. Residential buildings are the most affected sector, accounting for approximately half of all adaptation costs. The study also projects that annual damages from extreme events, if frequency doubles every 25 years, could reach US$738-3,294 million by 2050. Key adaptation priorities include climate-proofing public buildings and developing resilient transport standards.

• The annual cost of making infrastructure more climate-resilient is projected to increase from US$52-66 million for the 2015-2020 period to US$638-1,157 million for the 2045-2050 period. New construction is estimated to represent approximately 37% of these total costs, with the remainder attributed to additional maintenance.
• Total infrastructure adaptation costs to 2050 vary by scenario: a climate-friendly scenario (temperature increase of 1.5 to 2°C) results in costs of around US$2 billion, while a less friendly scenario (temperature increase of 2 to 3°C) increases costs to US$3 billion.
• Buildings account for 92% of all infrastructure adaptation costs, with residential buildings being the most impacted sector (approximately 50% of total costs), followed by public buildings (25%) and private non-residential infrastructure (16%). Transport infrastructure accounts for 8% to 10% of costs, estimated at US$194 to US$250 million by 2050.
• Annual damages from extreme events are currently estimated between US$20-130 million. If the frequency of these events remains constant, damages rise to US$189-838 million by 2050. However, if the frequency of extreme events doubles every 25 years, annual damages could reach US$738-3,294 million by 2050.
• The report identifies the highest priorities for the infrastructure adaptation programme as climate-proofing public buildings, developing standards for transport and infrastructure planning, and integrating climate-resilient standards into existing risk assessment guidelines.
• The Government of Uganda's Costed Implementation Strategy for the National Climate Change Policy proposes risk management actions with a total cost of US$12 million to 2030. High-priority actions include improving early-warning systems, implementing a disaster risk management strategy, strengthening the National Emergency Coordination and Operations Centre, and establishing a national contingency fund.
• A disaster risk reduction programme costing US$12 million could generate a rate of return of at least 10% if it reduces expected damages by as little as 7% (under conservative assumptions) or 1.2% (under upper bound assumptions).
• Historical data from 1933-2014 shows 1,512 climate-related events in Uganda, causing an average of 26.7 deaths, 146 injuries, and 265 destroyed houses per year.

APA

Markandya, A., Taylor, T., Kajubi, L., & Cunliffe, S. (2015). Economic Assessment of the Impacts of Climate Change in Uganda. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Uganda_CC-Economics_Infrastructure-Sector.pdf

Chicago

Markandya, Anil, Tim Taylor, Lammeck Kajubi, and Scott Cunliffe. Economic Assessment of the Impacts of Climate Change in Uganda. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2015. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Uganda_CC-Economics_Infrastructure-Sector.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Markandya |first1=Anil |last2=Taylor |first2=Tim |last3=Kajubi |first3=Lammeck |last4=Cunliffe |first4=Scott |title=Economic Assessment of the Impacts of Climate Change in Uganda |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=March 2015 |url=https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Uganda_CC-Economics_Infrastructure-Sector.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{markandya2015economic, author = {Markandya, Anil and Taylor, Tim and Kajubi, Lammeck and Cunliffe, Scott}, title = {{Economic Assessment of the Impacts of Climate Change in Uganda}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2015}, month = mar, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Uganda_CC-Economics_Infrastructure-Sector.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }