A high-level summit convened in the Kenyan capital on Thursday, drawing together African policymakers and climate experts in a concerted effort to bolster the continent’s access to global climate finance. The two-day forum, organised under the auspices of the Africa Green Climate Finance National Designated Authorities Network (AFDAN) and the Building Climate Resilience of the Urban Poor initiative, aims to enhance Africa’s capacity to secure and effectively deploy green finance for locally-led climate action.
Representatives from 20 African nations converged to address the pressing need for increased capital inflows to finance climate adaptation and mitigation efforts. Despite being one of the regions most vulnerable to climate change, Africa currently receives a paltry 4 per cent of global climate finance—a shortfall attributed to barriers in accessing international, bilateral, and multilateral funds.
John Mbadi, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Treasury and Economic Planning, underscored the urgency of the situation, noting that climate-induced disasters such as floods and droughts erode approximately 5 per cent of Kenya’s gross domestic product annually. Mbadi stressed the need for robust political will and regulatory frameworks to unlock substantial climate finance, urging African nations to foster cross-country collaboration and commit to sustainable green growth.
“Africa’s challenge is not merely one of resource scarcity but of access. We must harness our political will to create regulatory environments conducive to mobilising climate finance at scale,” Mbadi stated. He also highlighted the potential for learning from successful models within the continent and beyond.
Peter Odhengo, the AFDAN coordinator, identified technical capacity deficits and the intricate demands of climate finance access requirements as significant impediments to the continent’s green finance flows. “To scale up climate finance, Africa must develop and propagate models tailored to our specific needs and contexts,” Odhengo remarked.
The forum also heard from Aden Duale, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change, and Forestry, who outlined Kenya’s achievements in establishing a solid legal and institutional foundation for climate finance. These include the enactment of the Climate Change Act 2016, the formulation of the National Climate Finance Policy, and the introduction of the Sovereign Green Bond Framework and National Green Fiscal Incentive Policy Framework.
Duale emphasised that the way forward lies in bolstering both South-South and North-South cooperation, with a focus on home-grown solutions to Africa’s climate challenges. He advocated for predictable and sustainable finance flows, which are essential for the continent’s long-term climate resilience.
As the forum progresses, participating nations are expected to engage in in-depth discussions on scaling up their technical capacities, refining their climate finance proposals, and navigating the often labyrinthine process of securing international funds. The outcomes of these discussions are poised to shape Africa’s climate finance landscape, potentially unlocking the financial resources needed to mitigate the continent’s disproportionate exposure to climate risks.
