Landscape of Climate Finance in Africa

This report by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI), commissioned by FSD Africa, provides a comprehensive baseline of climate finance flows in Africa for 2019 and 2020. It highlights a massive financing gap, noting that annual flows of USD 29.5 billion meet only about 11% of the USD 277 billion needed annually to implement Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by 2030. The analysis details the sources, instruments, and sectoral allocations of these funds, emphasizing the dominance of international public finance and the need for increased private sector engagement and better data tracking.

• Africa faces a severe climate finance deficit, receiving only USD 29.5 billion annually against an estimated need of USD 277 billion to meet 2030 climate goals and implement NDCs. This means the continent received only 12-15% of its required climate response investments in 2019 and 2020.
• Climate finance is highly concentrated geographically, with ten countries—Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa, Mozambique, Cote d’Ivoire, Tunisia, and Ghana—absorbing more than half of all investment.
• International public finance is the primary source of climate funding, accounting for 80% of total flows. Multilateral Development Financial Institutions (DFIs) and climate funds were the largest contributors at 49%, followed by bilateral development partners (22%), international governments (16%), and climate funds (4%).
• 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. In comparison, private finance represents 49% in Latin America & Caribbean and 39% in East Asia & Pacific.
• Africa demonstrates a more balanced allocation between mitigation and adaptation than other global regions. Mitigation accounted for 49% (USD 14.6 billion) and adaptation for 39% (USD 11.4 billion) of flows, whereas adaptation typically represents only 7%–16% of total climate finance globally.
• Loans are the dominant financial instrument, making up 56% of total financing. Specifically, loans are the preferred vehicle for mitigation (57%) and commercially attractive sectors like energy (56%), while grants are more prevalent for adaptation (46%) and the AFOLU sector (54%).
• There is a stark disparity between climate finance and fossil fuel investment. While annual renewable energy investment is USD 9.4 billion, annual investment in fossil fuels was USD 29 billion (2016–2021), and fossil fuel subsidies averaged USD 37 billion in 2019/2020.
• The Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector is critically underfunded relative to its importance, receiving only 16% of total climate finance despite employing 55–62% of the Sub-Saharan workforce.
• Gender responsiveness in climate finance is low; only 19% of the 32% of total climate finance tagged for gender equality was actually gender responsive. Mitigation finance had the lowest responsiveness at 7%.
• Significant data gaps hinder the tracking of climate finance, particularly regarding domestic government expenditures and private sector flows. Only Ghana and Kenya have mainstreamed climate Budget-tagging (CBT) systems.

APA

Meattle, C., Padmanabhi, R., Fernandes, P., Balm, A., Wakaba, E., Chiriac, D., & Tonkonogy, B. (2022). Landscape of Climate Finance in Africa. FSD Africa. https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/1.-Landscape-of-Climate-Finance-in-Africa-l-Full-report.pdf

Chicago

Meattle, Chavi, Rajashree Padmanabhi, Pedro Fernandes, Anna Balm, Elvis Wakaba, Daniela Chiriac, and Bella Tonkonogy. Landscape of Climate Finance in Africa. FSD Africa, 2022. https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/1.-Landscape-of-Climate-Finance-in-Africa-l-Full-report.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Meattle |first1=Chavi |last2=Padmanabhi |first2=Rajashree |last3=Fernandes |first3=Pedro |last4=Balm |first4=Anna |last5=Wakaba |first5=Elvis |last6=Chiriac |first6=Daniela |last7=Tonkonogy |first7=Bella |title=Landscape of Climate Finance in Africa |publisher=FSD Africa |date=September 2022 |url=https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/1.-Landscape-of-Climate-Finance-in-Africa-l-Full-report.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{meattle2022landscape, author = {Meattle, Chavi and Padmanabhi, Rajashree and Fernandes, Pedro and Balm, Anna and Wakaba, Elvis and Chiriac, Daniela and Tonkonogy, Bella}, title = {{Landscape of Climate Finance in Africa}}, institution = {FSD Africa}, year = {2022}, month = sep, url = {https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/1.-Landscape-of-Climate-Finance-in-Africa-l-Full-report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }