Landscape of Climate Finance for Agriculture, Forestry, Other Land Uses and Fisheries

The report finds that climate finance for AFOLU sectors is severely underfunded, representing only 2.5% of total tracked climate finance in 2019/20. While overall trends were positive between 2013 and 2020, a 20% drop occurred between 2017/18 and 2019/20. The sectors require an estimated USD 423.4 billion annually by 2030 to align with the Paris Agreement, a nearly 26-fold increase over 2019/20 levels. Finance is dominated by public sources, with significant gaps in private investment and a stagnation in adaptation funding. Geographically, East Asia and the Pacific are the primary recipients, followed by Sub-Saharan Africa.

• Climate finance for AFOLU sectors is significantly lower than in other sectors and experienced a recent decline. In 2019/20, AFOLU received only 2.5% of total tracked climate finance, compared to 51% for renewable energy generation and nearly 26% for low-carbon transport. While the general trend from 2013 to 2020 was positive, there was a 20% drop between 2017/18 and 2019/20, with the latter period averaging USD 16.3 billion.
• There is a massive gap between current funding and the investment needed for a Paris-compatible trajectory. AFOLU sectors require an average of USD 423.4 billion per year up to 2030, which is a nearly 26-fold increase over the 2019/20 annual average of USD 16.3 billion.
• Climate finance for AFOLU is overwhelmingly provided by public sources, while private investment remains very low. Private finance only passed the 1% threshold for the first time in 2019/20, lagging far behind the cross-sector average where 49% of total climate finance originates from private sources. Barriers to private investment include high actual and perceived risks, long pay-back periods, and low returns.
• Funding for climate mitigation has increased significantly, but adaptation finance has plateaued. Mitigation finance rose from a USD 3 billion annual average in 2015/16 to USD 10.6 billion in 2017/18. Adaptation finance, which makes up 34% of AFOLU climate finance (compared to 7.4% across all sectors), has fluctuated mildly and dropped in 2019/20.
• Geographically, the East Asia and Pacific region is the largest recipient of AFOLU climate finance (39%), followed by Sub-Saharan Africa (24%). In Sub-Saharan Africa, AFOLU attracts substantive investment due to its economic importance, as agriculture accounts for 23% of the region's GDP.
• Investment is heavily concentrated in forestry and agriculture, which together received nearly 80% of AFOLU climate finance in 2019/20. Other areas, such as fisheries, food loss and waste, and low-carbon diets, each represent a minor fraction of less than 1% of tracked finance.

APA

Chiriac, D., Vishnumolakala, H., & Rosane, P. (2022). Landscape of Climate Finance for Agriculture, Forestry, Other Land Uses and Fisheries. Climate Policy Initiative. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Landscape-of-Climate-Finance-for-Agriculture-Forestry-Other-Land-Uses-and-Fisheries.pdf

Chicago

Chiriac, Daniela, Harsha Vishnumolakala, and Paul Rosane. Landscape of Climate Finance for Agriculture, Forestry, Other Land Uses and Fisheries. Climate Policy Initiative, 2022. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Landscape-of-Climate-Finance-for-Agriculture-Forestry-Other-Land-Uses-and-Fisheries.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Chiriac |first1=Daniela |last2=Vishnumolakala |first2=Harsha |last3=Rosane |first3=Paul |title=Landscape of Climate Finance for Agriculture, Forestry, Other Land Uses and Fisheries |publisher=Climate Policy Initiative |date=2022 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Landscape-of-Climate-Finance-for-Agriculture-Forestry-Other-Land-Uses-and-Fisheries.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{chiriac2022landscape, author = {Chiriac, Daniela and Vishnumolakala, Harsha and Rosane, Paul}, title = {{Landscape of Climate Finance for Agriculture, Forestry, Other Land Uses and Fisheries}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2022}, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Landscape-of-Climate-Finance-for-Agriculture-Forestry-Other-Land-Uses-and-Fisheries.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }