Advancing Africa’s Adaptation Finance Priorities Under the South African G20 Presidency

This policy brief by the South African Institute of International Affairs outlines priorities for Africa's adaptation finance under the South African G20 presidency. It highlights a severe funding gap, where Africa requires $187–359 billion annually but faces an 80% shortfall in adaptation investment. The document advocates for a shift from debt-creating loans to grant-based and concessional finance, leveraging G20 working groups and MDB reforms to support National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and locally led adaptation.

• Africa is the fastest-warming region globally, with temperatures in 2024 averaging 0.86°C above the 1991–2020 baseline, and some reports indicating a warming rate of 1.28°C.
• There is a massive gap between Africa's adaptation finance needs and actual mobilization; the continent requires between $187–359 billion annually, yet adaptation investment alone faces an 80% shortfall.
• Climate finance distribution across Africa is skewed, with Eastern Africa receiving the largest share ($43.9 billion) of the $108.7 billion total climate finance from 2011–2021, followed by West Africa ($34.2 billion), Southern Africa ($19.8 billion), Central Africa ($10.8 billion), and North Africa ($10.0 billion).
• Current climate finance is often delivered as debt-creating loans rather than grants, which increases fiscal stress for vulnerable economies. In 2021, developed countries mobilized $86 billion of the $100 billion goal, but over 70% of this was concessional and non-concessional loans.
• The Green Climate Fund (GCF) has approved $6.3 billion for 125 projects in 50 African countries, with 55% ($3.5 billion) for adaptation, but implementation is poor, with only 1% progress on water resilience and only 27% of targeted beneficiaries reached.
• The document recommends scaling locally led adaptation through targeted grants and concessional finance, citing Kenya's County Climate Change Funds (CCCFs) and the FLLoCA programme as models that have financed over 138 projects and reached over 2 million people.
• Innovative tools like debt-for-climate swaps are proposed to reduce debt burdens while funding resilience, exemplified by the Seychelles' 2018 initiative which redirected over $21.6 million to conservation and adaptation.
• The brief calls for MDB reforms to support non-revenue-generating adaptation projects, suggesting that at least 50% of climate finance for African Least Developed Countries (LDCs) should be provided as grants or highly concessional finance.

APA

DENJE, T., MUTHONI, F. K., KIMANZI, M., OGABA, A., AWOLALA, D., & WAMUKOYA, G. (2025). Advancing Africa’s Adaptation Finance Priorities Under the South African G20 Presidency. South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/SAIIA_PN-21_Denje-et-al_G20AdaptationFinance-2.pdf

Chicago

DENJE, TELVIN, FREDRICK K MUTHONI, MESHACK KIMANZI, ANGELA OGABA, DAVID AWOLALA, and GEORGE WAMUKOYA. Advancing Africa’s Adaptation Finance Priorities Under the South African G20 Presidency. South African Institute of International Affairs, 2025. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/SAIIA_PN-21_Denje-et-al_G20AdaptationFinance-2.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=DENJE |first1=TELVIN |last2=MUTHONI |first2=FREDRICK K |last3=KIMANZI |first3=MESHACK |last4=OGABA |first4=ANGELA |last5=AWOLALA |first5=DAVID |last6=WAMUKOYA |first6=GEORGE |title=Advancing Africa’s Adaptation Finance Priorities Under the South African G20 Presidency |publisher=South African Institute of International Affairs |date=21 October 2025 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/SAIIA_PN-21_Denje-et-al_G20AdaptationFinance-2.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{denje2025advancing, author = {DENJE, TELVIN and MUTHONI, FREDRICK K and KIMANZI, MESHACK and OGABA, ANGELA and AWOLALA, DAVID and WAMUKOYA, GEORGE}, title = {{Advancing Africa’s Adaptation Finance Priorities Under the South African G20 Presidency}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2025}, month = oct, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/SAIIA_PN-21_Denje-et-al_G20AdaptationFinance-2.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }