Climate finance for the Indian Ocean and African Small Island Developing States

This research paper by the Stockholm Environment Institute analyses concessional international public climate finance flows to seven Indian Ocean and African Small Island Developing States (SIDS) between 2010 and 2015. Using OECD data, the study examines commitments, disbursements, and sectoral distribution, finding that finance is heavily concentrated in a few countries and sectors, with significant gaps in disbursement and alignment with national priorities.

• Between 2010 and 2015, US$ 978 million in climate finance was committed to seven Indian Ocean and African SIDS, representing approximately 17% of the total official development assistance (ODA) for these nations.
• Climate finance distribution is highly uneven, with Cape Verde (US$ 365 million) and Mauritius (US$ 448 million) receiving 83% of the total regional commitments. Conversely, Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in the region—the Comoros, Guinea-Bissau, and São Tomé and Príncipe—received the lowest total and per capita funding.
• The majority of climate finance was provided as debt rather than grants, with concessional loans accounting for US$ 727 million (nearly 75%) of the total flows. France and Japan were the primary providers of these loans.
• Funding is concentrated in a narrow range of sectors: water and sanitation (US$ 345 million), energy (US$ 322 million), and 'general environmental protection' (US$ 245 million). Critical resilience sectors such as health, education, agriculture, and disaster-risk reduction received minimal support.
• There is a significant gap between committed and disbursed funds, with only 39% (US$ 384 million) of total commitments actually disbursed between 2010 and 2015. Disbursement ratios for climate finance were notably lower than those for non-climate ODA.
• Climate finance is predominantly delivered through project-based support (91%) rather than budget support (7%), and is largely driven by bilateral sources (90%) rather than multilateral ones (10%).
• Regional funding split shows a slight preference for mitigation (56%, US$ 543 million) over adaptation (42%, US$ 412 million), though this varies by country; for example, Cape Verde focused more on adaptation while Mauritius focused on mitigation.

APA

Canales, N., Atteridge, A., & Sturesson, A. (2017). Climate finance for the Indian Ocean and African Small Island Developing States. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/climate-finance-for-the-indian-ocean-and-african-small-island-developing-states.pdf

Chicago

Canales, Nella, Aaron Atteridge, and Annie Sturesson. Climate finance for the Indian Ocean and African Small Island Developing States. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2017. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/climate-finance-for-the-indian-ocean-and-african-small-island-developing-states.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Canales |first1=Nella |last2=Atteridge |first2=Aaron |last3=Sturesson |first3=Annie |title=Climate finance for the Indian Ocean and African Small Island Developing States |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=December 2017 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/climate-finance-for-the-indian-ocean-and-african-small-island-developing-states.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{canales2017climate, author = {Canales, Nella and Atteridge, Aaron and Sturesson, Annie}, title = {{Climate finance for the Indian Ocean and African Small Island Developing States}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2017}, month = dec, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/climate-finance-for-the-indian-ocean-and-african-small-island-developing-states.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }