Search Climate Insights Directory

This briefing by the Stockholm Environment Institute examines the role of private-sector investment in climate change mitigation within Sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on UNFCCC-backed instruments and national policies to identify effective levers for mobilising finance to meet nationally determined contributions (NDCs).

This policy brief examines the barriers to upscaling Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) in sub-Saharan Africa and proposes policy interventions to enhance food security and climate resilience.

This briefing by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) outlines the challenges and opportunities for expanding sustainable electricity access in sub-Saharan Africa. It advocates for an integrated approach that combines on-grid and off-grid resources to meet growing energy demands while mitigating future carbon emissions.

This policy brief examines the risks climate change poses to large-scale hydropower infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa and the current lack of climate service integration in the planning process. It argues that while hydropower is critical for energy security, most projects rely on historical data that ignore future hydrological shifts, leaving long-lived assets vulnerable to failure or inefficiency.

This research paper examines the global and regional processes that influence the adoption of rainwater harvesting technologies (RWHTs) in the semi-arid and sub-humid regions of sub-Saharan Africa to improve food security and climate resilience.

This briefing, based on a 2014 workshop in Nairobi, examines the potential for low-carbon energy options to expand energy access in Africa. It discusses the financial requirements for universal access, the barriers to adopting renewables, and the potential for low-carbon solutions to align with broader development goals such as health, employment, and national energy sovereignty.

This report examines climate change adaptation strategies in 10 ASARECA member countries, focusing on the availability of climate-related datasets, their integration into national development plans, and the countries' positions in UNFCCC negotiations.

The SUNCASA (Scaling Urban Nature-based Solutions for Climate Adaptation in Sub-Saharan Africa) project is a USD 22 million initiative managed by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the World Resources Institute (WRI) to improve climate resilience in urban communities in Ethiopia, Rwanda, and South Africa through gender-responsive nature-based solutions (NbS).

This policy brief by the Institute for Security Studies examines the intersection of climate change, gender inequality, and human mobility in Africa. It argues that gender-neutral climate policies deepen existing inequalities and that women, despite being key agents of adaptation, face disproportionate risks and barriers to resources, finance, and decision-making.

The Alliance for Renewable Electrification (ARE) is seeking expressions of interest for its 2025 Investment Academy, a hybrid training programme running from 31 March to 17 October 2025. The programme is designed to help up to 12 early-stage decentralised renewable energy (DRE) SMEs in sub-Saharan Africa improve their access to finance and investor relations through eight training modules, culminating in a pitching session to financiers in Nairobi, Kenya.

This report by ENGIE Energy Access argues that current grant funding for energy access in Sub-Saharan Africa is fragmented, insufficient, and misaligned with market realities. It proposes a strategic roadmap to refocus funding on core household electrification, optimize grant instruments for different market segments, increase the total volume and share of grants in the capital mix, and transition toward coordinated programmatic platforms to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) by 2030.

The G20 Energy Access Action Plan is a multi-phase voluntary collaboration framework designed to strengthen G20 member cooperation on energy access. The first phase specifically targets improving electricity access in sub-Saharan Africa through six strategic pillars: policy and regulatory environments, technology deployment, investment and finance, capacity building, regional integration, and coordination. The plan emphasizes sharing knowledge and good practices while respecting the sovereign right of nations to determine their own energy mix.

This research paper, prepared by the Stockholm Environment Institute for the New Climate Economy, examines the health, economic, and environmental impacts of traditional biomass cooking in sub-Saharan Africa. It analyzes the challenges of transitioning to clean cooking energy and provides case studies from Mali, Ghana, Ethiopia, and Kenya to identify success factors for scaling up improved cookstove interventions.

This conceptual review by the Stockholm Environment Institute examines the role of risk and the cost of capital in utility-scale renewable energy investments, with a specific focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. It analyzes how risk mitigation and transfer (RMT) instruments can be used to lower the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) and improve the Net Present Value (NPV) of projects to attract private investment in developing countries.

This fact sheet describes an interdisciplinary project running from October 2013 to October 2015, funded by the UK National Environmental Research Council (NERC) through the Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) programme. The project aims to understand the impacts of biofuel production and use on ecosystem services, human wellbeing, and poverty alleviation in sub-Saharan Africa, specifically focusing on sugar cane and jatropha feedstocks.

The African Cities Water Adaptation Fund (ACWA Fund), a key instrument of the Urban Water Resilience Initiative led by the World Resources Institute (WRI), aims to finance innovative urban water resilience projects across 100 African cities by 2032. The fund employs a blended finance model—combining grants, concessional loans, equity, and debt—to address a $66 billion infrastructure investment backlog in sub-Saharan Africa. It operates through a three-stage process: developing city-region scale water resilience action plans, preparing and investing in a standardized 'investment menu' of low-cost solutions, and maturing these programs through standardized toolkits and policy reform to enable scaling.