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

Between 2010 and 2015, US$ 978 million in climate finance was committed to seven Indian Ocean and African SIDS, with 83% of these funds concentrated in Cape Verde and Mauritius. The financing was dominated by bilateral ODA loans (74%) and primarily targeted mitigation (56%) over adaptation (42%). Sectoral focus was narrow, concentrating on water and sanitation, energy, and general environmental protection, while critical resilience sectors like health, education, and agriculture were largely ignored. Disbursement rates were notably low, with only 39% of committed funds actually spent across the region, a rate significantly lower than for non-climate ODA.

• Between 2010 and 2015, US$ 978 million was committed to seven Indian Ocean and African SIDS for the principal purpose of addressing climate change, representing approximately 17% of total ODA for these states.
• Climate finance distribution was highly uneven, with Cape Verde (US$ 365 million) and Mauritius (US$ 448 million) receiving 83% of the total regional climate finance. 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 total flows. France and Japan were the largest providers of these loans.
• Regional funding was skewed toward mitigation (56%, US$ 543 million) compared to adaptation (42%, US$ 412 million), with only 2% targeting both objectives.
• Climate finance was 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 little to no funding.
• The delivery of climate finance was overwhelmingly project-based, accounting for 91% of total flows, while sector budget support made up only 7%.
• There is a significant gap between committed and disbursed funds; only 39% (US$ 384 million) of total commitments were disbursed between 2010 and 2015. This disbursement ratio is significantly lower than that of non-climate ODA for the same countries.
• Bilateral sources dominated the funding landscape, providing approximately 90% (US$ 881 million) of the climate finance, while multilateral sources accounted for only 10% (US$ 97 million).

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} }