Financing Adaptation in Africa: The Key to Sustainable Development

The document argues that Africa faces an existential crisis due to climate change, yet adaptation finance remains critically low compared to mitigation. It identifies barriers such as the perception of adaptation as a public good, lack of bankable proposals, and inadequate climate data. To address these, the brief recommends demonstrating the business case for adaptation to attract private capital, strengthening government technical capacity, introducing adaptation levies, and lobbying for a distinct international goal for adaptation finance.

• Africa is disproportionately vulnerable to climate change despite its low contribution to global emissions, with seven of the ten most vulnerable countries located on the continent and 95% of its food production relying on rainfed agriculture.
• There is a significant gap between the financial needs for adaptation in Africa and the actual flows; the African Development Bank estimates the continent requires between $7 billion and $15 billion annually, yet sub-Saharan Africa received only $3.57 billion of the $13.9 billion in adaptation finance committed to low- and middle-income countries according to a 2019 MDB report.
• Adaptation finance consistently lags behind mitigation finance at both global and national levels. In Kenya, for example, 78.9% of climate finance was directed toward mitigation projects in 2018, while only 11.7% was allocated to adaptation.
• Private sector investment in adaptation is severely limited by the perception that these projects are public goods with no clear business case, resulting in the private sector contributing only 1.6% of global adaptation finance during 2017–2018.
• African governments struggle to access multilateral climate funds, such as the Green Climate Fund and Adaptation Fund, due to a lack of technical skills to create bankable proposals and a deficiency in reliable climate data needed for strong project rationales.
• The document proposes several mechanisms to increase funding, including the introduction of 'adaptation levies' (citing Fiji's Environment and Climate Adaptation Levy as a model), lobbying for an international adaptation finance goal distinct from general climate finance, and urging MDBs to achieve parity between adaptation and mitigation funding.
• Strategic investments in early warning systems and resilient infrastructure could provide high returns; the Global Commission on Adaptation suggests that a $1.8 trillion global investment between 2020 and 2030 could yield net benefits of $7.1 trillion, with a benefit-cost ratio between 2:1 and 10:1.

APA

South African Institute of International Affairs (2021). Financing Adaptation in Africa: The Key to Sustainable Development. https://saiia.org.za/research/financing-adaptation-in-africa-the-key-to-sustainable-development/

Chicago

South African Institute of International Affairs. Financing Adaptation in Africa: The Key to Sustainable Development. 2021. https://saiia.org.za/research/financing-adaptation-in-africa-the-key-to-sustainable-development/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=South African Institute of International Affairs |title=Financing Adaptation in Africa: The Key to Sustainable Development |date=28 October 2021 |url=https://saiia.org.za/research/financing-adaptation-in-africa-the-key-to-sustainable-development/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{southafricaninstituteofinternationalaffairs2021financing, author = {{South African Institute of International Affairs}}, title = {{Financing Adaptation in Africa: The Key to Sustainable Development}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2021}, month = oct, url = {https://saiia.org.za/research/financing-adaptation-in-africa-the-key-to-sustainable-development/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }