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The report argues that while healthcare facilities in LMICs face significant energy deficits and climate vulnerabilities, climate finance can bridge the funding gap for low-carbon and resilient infrastructure. It identifies US$ 4.9 billion as the requirement to electrify two-thirds of healthcare facilities across 63 countries. The document outlines a diverse landscape of finance sources—including bilateral, multilateral, and carbon markets—and provides a roadmap for non-governmental partners to overcome barriers such as high upfront costs and limited local capacity.

The report evaluates five small, locally led grants funded by the Scottish government to address loss and damage (L&D). It argues that while small grants are limited in scale and duration, they are essential for rapid action, capacity building, and piloting human rights-based approaches. Key findings emphasize the need to bridge the gap between L&D and adaptation, prioritize 'trapped' populations in migration support, and shift from rigid output-based monitoring to trust-based, outcome-oriented partnerships grounded in climate justice.

This briefing, submitted by Natural Justice and the Environmental Lawyers Collective for Africa (E.L.C.A), provides commentary on a zero draft study by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) regarding the impact of climate change on human and people's rights in Africa. The document evaluates the study's identification of vulnerable groups and rights, critiques its approach to corporate accountability and extractive industries, and offers recommendations to strengthen the protection of indigenous peoples, children, and the environment through legal and monitoring frameworks.

The document identifies three priority policy areas for food systems transformation (FST) to enhance food security and climate resilience: reducing post-harvest losses, scaling up biofortification of staple crops, and improving food safety. It argues that while these issues are recognized in national policies across Eastern and Southern Africa, implementation is hindered by limited resources, capacity gaps, and a disproportionate focus on staple crops over high-nutrition crops.

The report outlines the strategic positions of African nations and multilateral structures at COP28, emphasizing the Nairobi Declaration and the AU's Climate Change and Resilient Strategy and Action Plan. It details the leadership of specific countries in areas such as green hydrogen (Morocco, Kenya), critical minerals (Namibia), and forest restoration (Ethiopia, Rwanda, Republic of Congo), while analyzing the influence of negotiating blocs like the G77 and China, BASIC, and the LDC group in securing climate finance and adaptation support.

The report forecasts a significant increase in Africa's energy demand due to population growth, projecting that it will overtake the EU27 by 2043. While Africa possesses vast oil, gas, and hydropower reserves, its current energy mix remains heavily reliant on fossil fuels, with 'other renewables' making up only 1.6% of production in 2023. The document highlights a trajectory where Africa will eventually become a major global source of carbon emissions from fossil fuels, overtaking the EU by 2034.

The report identifies Africa as a net energy exporter, though it forecasts that total energy demand will exceed production by 2039. While a small group of countries like Algeria, Nigeria, and Angola maintain high export values, a significant number of African nations remain heavily dependent on energy imports, a group expected to expand by 2043.

The document outlines the state of nuclear energy in Africa, noting that while South Africa is the only country with a commercial plant, Egypt is constructing a large-scale facility and several other nations are exploring the option. It highlights the potential role of small modular reactors (SMRs) in balancing grids with renewable energy.

The document examines the shift from paper-based to digital identification in East Africa, specifically focusing on Ethiopia's 'Fayda' and Uganda's 'Ndaga Muntu' systems. While digital IDs aim to improve access to government services and reduce fraud, the briefing highlights significant risks including the exclusion of marginalized groups, potential for ethnic profiling, and the absence or weakness of data protection laws. It recommends transparent roll-outs, the maintenance of analogue alternatives, and the establishment of strong legal frameworks for cybersecurity and privacy.

The report identifies a disconnect between green technology programmes and youth employment policies in Africa, noting that while energy and agriculture are primary focuses, there is significant untapped potential in ICTs, indigenous knowledge, and local manufacturing to create sustainable jobs for young people.

Kenya is highly vulnerable to climate change, with adverse events causing annual socioeconomic losses of 3–5 percent of GDP between 2010 and 2020. While some crop yields may increase due to CO2 fertilization and higher elevations, the livestock sector faces significant risks from heat stress and drought, particularly in arid and semi-arid lands. The report highlights critical vulnerabilities in hydropower, tourism, and coastal infrastructure, while noting that the government is a regional leader in policy but struggles with financing and subnational coordination. Recommendations focus on granular climate scenario analysis, diversifying agriculture, improving agricultural insurance, and mobilizing large-scale funding through ARIPs.

Black carbon (BC), or soot, is a potent short-lived climate pollutant resulting from incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass. The report identifies the residential and transportation sectors as the primary sources, with China and India as the largest emitters. It highlights a 'triple win' of reducing BC: slowing global warming (particularly in the Arctic and Himalayas), preventing millions of premature deaths, and avoiding trillions in economic losses. Key recommendations include scaling clean cooking in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, retrofitting diesel engines with particulate filters, regulating shipping fuels, and incorporating BC into national climate plans (NDCs).

The report argues that nature-based solutions (NBS) and carbon offset schemes often serve as 'escapes' for major polluters to continue emitting greenhouse gases while facilitating land grabbing and violating human rights. It provides numerous case studies across Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and the Americas, highlighting systemic issues such as inflated carbon baselines, lack of free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC), and the failure of projects to deliver promised carbon reductions or community benefits. Specific examples include REDD+ projects in Gabon and Zimbabwe, soil carbon initiatives in Kenya and the US, and cookstove offsets in India.

The analysis reveals a significant gap between the mention of gender in African NDCs and the implementation of substantive gender-responsive actions. While 90% of assessed NDCs reference gender, only 23% include gender-responsive budgeting and 32% are informed by a gender analysis. The paper highlights that high levels of climate finance mobilisation in countries like Morocco, South Africa, and Egypt have not translated into gender-responsive budgeting. Furthermore, private climate finance remains heavily concentrated in the energy sector (74%), which typically has lower female participation compared to the agriculture, forestry, and other land use (AFOLU) sector, which received only 7% of funding.

The document examines the transition from paper-based to digital identification in East Africa, specifically focusing on Ethiopia's Fayda and Uganda's Ndaga Muntu systems. While digital IDs aim to improve access to services and reduce fraud, the author highlights significant risks including mass exclusion of marginalized groups, potential for ethnic profiling, and the absence of robust data protection laws. The briefing argues that without strong legal frameworks and transparent implementation, these systems can become barriers to human rights rather than tools for inclusion.

The ARCAFIM GESI Action Strategy establishes a framework to ensure that climate adaptation finance reaches vulnerable groups, specifically women, youth, and indigenous communities in East Africa. The program intends to mobilize US$ 270 million in climate change adaptation (CCA) investments and US$ 30 million in technical assistance (TA). It focuses on mainstreaming gender and climate lenses into the investment processes of the Equity Bank Group (EBG) and its Tier 2 Financial Intermediaries (FIs) through the use of a Gender-Smart Climate Financing Toolkit and alignment with international standards like the 2X Collaborative’s 2X Green toolkit and the Women Empowerment Principles.

The study finds that while forest fires are a threat, the VCS Program's pooled buffer account is adequately capitalized to guarantee credit permanence. Analysis of six REDD+ projects shows that some, such as the Katingan Peatland Restoration Project, generate fire-mitigation co-benefits through advanced management practices, while others do not. Only one reversal was identified across 190 AFOLU projects, which was fully compensated by the buffer pool.

The policy brief examines the challenge of youth unemployment in Africa, noting that millions of young people, including tertiary graduates, struggle to enter the labor market. It evaluates various school-to-work transition initiatives, such as Ghana's National Service Scheme and NABCO, and identifies a critical trade-off between the scale of a program and the quality of its training. The author argues that for these programs to be successful, they must provide comprehensive skills training, ensure inclusivity, avoid political interference, and be coupled with efforts to create more high-quality jobs in collaboration with the private sector.

A coalition of civil society organizations urges the World Bank Group Executive Directors to reject any IFC remedial framework that fails to commit to financial contributions for remedy, obligations for clients to remediate harm, and protections against exiting projects with ongoing CAO cases without community consent.

The Catalyst Climate Resilience Fund (CCRF) is a blended finance vehicle designed to support pre-seed climate adaptation startups in Africa. It provides an initial USD 200,000 investment per company, split between cash and venture-building support from BFA Global. The fund targets a total size of USD 40 million, utilizing a tiered capital structure with first-loss protection to attract commercial investors. Its investment thesis focuses on three verticals: fintech for resilience, sustainable livelihoods, and climate-smart essential services. The fund has already completed its first close of approximately USD 8.5 million in August 2023 and has made 10 initial pre-seed investments across several African nations.