Landscape of Climate Finance in Africa

The report finds a massive gap between Africa's annual climate finance needs (USD 277 billion) and actual flows (USD 29.5 billion). While international public finance dominates, private sector contribution is low at 14%. Finance is heavily concentrated in a few countries and sectors, with energy receiving the most investment, while agriculture, forestry, and other land use (AFOLU) remains underfunded. The report recommends scaling up concessional finance, improving data tracking, and catalyzing private investment to meet 2030 goals.

• Africa faces a severe climate finance gap, receiving only USD 29.5 billion annually against an estimated need of USD 277 billion to implement its NDCs and meet 2030 goals.
• Climate finance is geographically concentrated, with ten countries—Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa, Mozambique, Cote dIvoire, Tunisia, and Ghana—absorbing more than half of all investment.
• The Southern African region has the largest absolute financing gap, primarily due to South Africa's high annual needs of USD 107 billion combined with low regional investment levels.
• Private sector contribution to climate finance in Africa is significantly lower than in other global regions, accounting for only 14% (USD 4.2 billion) of total flows.
• Africa shows a more balanced distribution between adaptation and mitigation finance than other global regions, with mitigation at 49% (USD 14.6 billion) and adaptation at 39% (USD 11.4 billion).
• Loans are the primary financial instrument, representing 56% of total financing, though grants are more prevalent for adaptation in low-income countries (69%) and AFOLU projects (54%).
• Investment in renewable energy is USD 9.4 billion annually, which is a small fraction of the USD 29 billion per year invested in fossil fuel companies and projects between 2016 and 2021.
• The Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector is underfunded, receiving only 16% (USD 4.6 billion) of total climate finance despite its high vulnerability and economic importance.
• International public finance grew slightly from USD 22.3 billion in 2019 to USD 24.3 billion in 2020, with Multilateral Development Financial Institutions (DFIs) and climate funds as the largest sources (49%).
• Gender responsiveness in climate finance is low; only 19% of the 32% of total climate finance tagged for gender equality was actually gender responsive.

APA

Meattle, C., Padmanabhi, R., Fernandes, P. D. A., Balm, A., Wakaba, E., Chiriac, D., & Tonkonogy, B. (2022). Landscape of Climate Finance in Africa. Climate Policy Initiative. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Landscape-of-Climate-Finance-in-Africa.pdf

Chicago

Meattle, Chavi, Rajashree Padmanabhi, Pedro de Aragão Fernandes, Anna Balm, Elvis Wakaba, Daniela Chiriac, and Bella Tonkonogy. Landscape of Climate Finance in Africa. Climate Policy Initiative, 2022. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Landscape-of-Climate-Finance-in-Africa.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{meattle2022landscape, author = {Meattle, Chavi and Padmanabhi, Rajashree and Fernandes, Pedro de Aragão and Balm, Anna and Wakaba, Elvis and Chiriac, Daniela and Tonkonogy, Bella}, title = {{Landscape of Climate Finance in Africa}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2022}, month = sep, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Landscape-of-Climate-Finance-in-Africa.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }