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The document examines the intersection of global trade flows and climate change, highlighting how trade can both exacerbate emissions through 'embodied' carbon and facilitate the diffusion of green technologies. It details a variety of policy levers—including border carbon adjustments, the removal of fossil fuel subsidies, and the liberalization of environmental goods—that can align trade with climate goals. The brief analyzes the role of the WTO, noting that while existing rules generally allow for good-faith environmental policies, tensions arise over local content requirements and discriminatory measures. It highlights member-led initiatives like the Trade and Environmental Sustainability Structured Discussions (TESSD) and the Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform group as critical paths for future cooperation, emphasizing the need for a 'just transition' for developing countries and least developed countries (LDCs).

The NAP Global Network and Lensational implemented a pilot project in Ghana and Kenya to empower women on the front lines of climate change through photography and storytelling. By training women to document their lived experiences and visions of resilience, the initiative created a common language for dialogue between grassroots communities and policy-makers. This approach shifted the traditional consultation model, allowing women to set the agenda and influence the actions, strategies, and policies within the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) processes. Following the pilots, the approach is being expanded to Jamaica.

The Rabobank Acorn Agroforestry Carbon Programme supports smallholder farmers in Zambia, Nigeria, and Kenya in transitioning to sustainable agricultural production through a technology-enabled carbon sequestration marketplace. By utilizing Payment for Ecological Services (PES) via carbon credits, the program aims to monetize natural capital, increase food security, and create green jobs. The pilot phase is currently underway, with carbon loans already disbursed and technical training provided to farmers. The first carbon credits trading cycle is expected to take place in three years.

The Africa Private Equity and Debt Programme (2020-2025) focuses on developing private capital markets across Africa to complement public markets. It seeks to increase the participation of local institutional investors, particularly pension funds, through regulatory reform, capacity building, and the creation of demonstration transactions. Key achievements include supporting Kenya's policy framework for private equity and venture capital, launching the AVCA Training Academy, and conducting market studies on private debt and pension fund investments in Southern Africa.

The Climate Finance Training Programme, running from November 2020 to March 2025, aims to establish a twinning arrangement between UK and African academic institutions to enhance climate finance capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa. The programme seeks to increase investments in climate-resilient projects and create a regional centre of excellence in green finance. As of October 2022, two cohorts of 22 participants each had completed the Africa Climate Finance Leadership Programme, with a third cohort scheduled for the final quarter of 2022.

FSD Africa is supporting the creation of the Kenya Credit Enhancement Facility (KCEF), a non-bank financial institution designed to provide 100% irrevocable and unconditional credit guarantees for infrastructure-related corporate debt in Kenya. The facility aims to reduce risk for institutional investors, thereby increasing the availability of long-term capital for sustainable infrastructure and expanding the domestic fixed-income market.

The Kenya Green Bond Programme (2017-2021) focused on developing the green bond market in Kenya through policy reform, capacity building, and the creation of supportive regulatory frameworks. Key outcomes include the development of NSE Green Bond Listing Rules, the passage of tax incentives by parliament, and the mobilization of GBP 64.95 million in private finance for climate purposes, including Kenya's first green bond. The programme also trained over 20,000 bank employees via e-learning and provided training to 16 Kenyan verifiers.

The project aimed to advance long-term finance (LTF) in Sub-Saharan Africa by creating an LTF scoreboard and website to close information gaps for investors and policymakers. Key outputs included the finalisation of the scoreboard, hosted by the African Development Bank, and the completion of LTF landscape diagnostics for Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana.

The project aims to establish the EABX OTC Exchange in Kenya, serving as both a trading platform and a market regulator to improve liquidity, transparency, and efficiency in bond, money, foreign exchange, and derivative markets. Key objectives include reducing funding costs for debt capital market issuances by supporting a credible benchmark yield curve and enhancing investor confidence in public debt. As of October 2022, the EABX CEO was onboarded, and recruitment for other key executive roles is ongoing.

CaVEx is a digital marketplace using distributed ledger technology to allow small-scale climate projects to collect data, convert it into carbon credits, and sell them to buyers via mobile payments. Developed by 4R Digital with funding from FSD Africa, the platform aims to lower barriers for projects that lack the resources for traditional expert evaluation. Current development includes testing use cases in Kenya and Senegal, with a minimum viable product planned for September 2022 and long-term goals of onboarding over 50 projects and accessing over $100m in climate finance.

The Catalysing Climate Resilience (CCR) programme, funded by the FCDO and managed by FSD Africa, aims to build climate resilience in Africa through a three-part strategy: seeding new solutions via the Triggering Exponential Climate Action (TECA) venture launcher, accelerating growth through the Catalyst Fund, and developing the broader innovation ecosystem. The programme focuses on products and services that enable vulnerable households and businesses to adapt to climate change. Reported outcomes include the support of 70 start-ups, the creation or protection of 2,164 jobs, and the mobilisation of $11 million in public and private finance for resilience solutions.

The Digital Financial Innovation Platform is a 'one-stop innovation shop' designed to support the development of scalable and regionally replicable insurtech use cases in Sub-Saharan Africa. The project includes a digital BimaLab incubation program to connect startups with regulators, investors, and incumbents. The initiative aims to create economic opportunities and address fragility by prioritizing insurance products based on social impact and commercial scalability.

The Geothermal Risk Transfer Facility aims to catalyse private investment in African green energy by establishing a joint underwriting facility backed by local insurers to cover early-stage geothermal drilling risks. In Kenya, four insurance companies (Sanlam, APA, ICEA Lion, and Mayfair) have committed as founding members, and engagement with the regulator is positive. In Ethiopia, the programme has engaged with 13 of 18 insurance companies and plans a gap analysis with the national regulator.

The Risk, Resilience and Regulatory Lab (R3LAB) is a collaborative platform for African insurance regulators aimed at improving supervisory skills and fostering innovation. It provides capacity-building programs, peer exchange, and learning toolkits to address regulatory gaps. A key output includes 'insurance innovation portraits' for eight countries, which identify barriers to innovation and propose action plans based on six assessment areas, including infrastructure, finance, and the regulatory environment.

The document outlines Africa's objectives for COP27, focusing on the African Group of Negotiators' (AGN) demands for increased climate finance and the recognition of the continent's special circumstances. It highlights a tension between the African Union's (AU) support for natural gas as a transition fuel and the goals of renewable energy activists. The brief also details the roles of specific 'climate champion' countries and the impact of global geopolitical tensions, such as the US-China standoff and the Russia-Ukraine war, on climate negotiations.

The document presents a series of demands from African Environmental Defenders, calling for the recognition of their rights as equal rights holders, the implementation of the Paris Agreement, and an end to large-scale investment in oil and gas. It advocates for a global mandatory legal framework to protect defenders from harassment and killings, reparations for climate-induced loss and damage, and the integration of Traditional Knowledge into climate change solutions.

The document introduces a framework designed to evaluate the environmental and social benefits and trade-offs of circular economy approaches to urban organic waste. Developed through literature reviews and stakeholder interviews, the framework allows for sustainability assessments even with limited data. When applied to Naivasha, Kenya, the framework identified potential benefits including reduced greenhouse gas emissions, improved natural resource efficiency, and job creation, alongside risks such as negative impacts on worker health and smallholder farmers.

The document details how Lucy Lemashisha and the Rural Women Network (RWN) established the Climate Resilience and Learning Center in Kajiado County, Kenya, to combat the effects of recurrent drought and famine on the Maasai community. By promoting climate-smart agriculture, rainwater harvesting, and alternative income sources, the initiative has improved food security and shifted patriarchal power dynamics, enabling women to take leadership roles in climate justice and local governance.

The report finds that while there is interest in Green Bonds in the WAEMU region, the market is in a nascent stage due to underdeveloped financial infrastructure, a lack of government focus on climate regulatory frameworks, and limited technical capacity among stakeholders. It identifies energy, agriculture, and clean transportation as priority sectors and recommends sustained capacity building, the development of regional guidelines, and the use of technical assistance and risk-transfer instruments to attract investors.

The Green Affordable Housing Finance instrument uses a two-pronged approach—a Guarantee Facility and an Enabling Environment Facility—to unlock local private finance for sustainable housing. It addresses the 'chicken-and-egg' problem where a lack of mortgage finance for low-income households disincentivizes developers from building affordable homes. The instrument will be piloted in Kenya in 2023, targeting the mobilization of USD 48 million in local loans during the pilot and over USD 400 million long-term. It requires all supported homes to be IFC EDGE certified, ensuring at least 20% reductions in embodied energy, energy use, and water use.