In a drought-affected village in the Horn of Africa, a farmer watches the clouds gather over a field that has already endured months without reliable rain. The planting season is uncertain, the cost of seeds and fertiliser has risen, and the next harvest is far from guaranteed. Climate information could help the farmer decide when to plant. An irrigation system could protect crops against another dry spell. Drought-resistant seeds could reduce the risk of losing the harvest altogether. But each solution requires finance, infrastructure and institutions capable of delivering support before the next crisis arrives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Across Africa, the persistent gap between the resources required to protect lives and livelihoods and the finance available to do so consigns hundreds of millions of smallholders farmers to lives of penury every year. The continent requires between $143 billion and $277 billion annually to meet its climate action and Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) needs, but receives only about 4 per cent of global climate finance flows. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As negotiators prepare for COP31 in Antalya, T\u00fcrkiye, climate finance stands as the ultimate test of the international climate regime. Ten years after the Paris Agreement, Africa approaches COP31 as a rights holder demanding that developed countries fulfil their treaty obligations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the heart of this demand is a principle often overlooked in discussions about climate finance. Article 9.1 of the Paris Agreement obliges developed countries to provide financial resources to developing countries to support both mitigation and adaptation. The International Court of Justice\u2019s 2025 advisory opinion on states\u2019 obligations in respect of climate change has further clarified the broader legal responsibilities of states in addressing climate change. Yet, despite these commitments, finance reaching vulnerable countries remains inadequate, difficult to access, and too often delivered on terms that compound existing financial pressures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Africa arrives at COP31 amid severe macroeconomic headwinds, including high borrowing costs, constrained fiscal space, and mounting debt burdens. When climate finance is delivered primarily through market-rate loans or loans with only limited concessional terms, it creates the unjust paradox of climate-vulnerable countries being forced to incur additional debt to protect themselves against impacts they have contributed least to causing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One way to translate commitments into practical support is to strengthen the multilateral funds established under the UN climate regime. The Adaptation Fund, for example, has enabled developing countries to access finance directly through accredited national institutions, reducing their reliance on international intermediaries. However, the Fund needs a more stable and predictable revenue base as it moves away from its historical reliance on proceeds from the Clean Development Mechanism. COP31 should advance pathways towards stronger and more balanced governance, reliable funding sources, including the share of proceeds under Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement, and a clear framework for expanding grant-based adaptation support. The objective must be to equip the Fund to respond to the scale of the adaptation challenge facing developing countries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is equally important. As its third replenishment approaches, the Fund has an opportunity to secure stronger multi-year commitments from public contributors and ensure that resources reach the countries and communities that need them most. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For African governments, lengthy accreditation processes, complex applications and slow disbursement can mean the difference between a project that builds resilience and one that remains on paper. COP31 should therefore be an opportunity to press for predictable replenishment, streamlined access requirements, and clear timelines for approving and disbursing finance. Billions of dollars in pledges mean little if countries cannot access the money when they need it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The urgency is even greater when it comes to loss and damage. The establishment of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) was a major achievement after years of demands from climate-vulnerable countries. But establishing a fund is only the first step; it must have sufficient resources to address the scale of losses already being experienced. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Funding requests, announced pledges and actual contributions paid into the Fund must be clearly distinguished to provide an accurate picture of its financial capacity. The central concern remains that voluntary contributions alone cannot guarantee the predictable support countries need after devastating floods, droughts, storms and other climate-related disasters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Africa must press for a reliable replenishment system, substantially increased public contributions and arrangements that enable support to reach affected countries quickly, without adding to their debt burdens. Communities recovering from climate disasters should not face the additional burden of borrowing to rebuild homes, restore livelihoods and repair essential infrastructure damaged by events they had limited means to prevent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Accountability will be as important as the money itself. The Standing Committee on Finance (SCF) has a key role in improving understanding of climate finance flows and assessing progress under the UN climate regime. COP31 should help resolve outstanding questions about its mandate and strengthen its capacity to assess whether collective commitments are being met. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mercy John is a Climate Finance Fellow at Power Shift Africa<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The expectation is that international cooperation will deliver fairness in practice. Africa needs finance that arrives when it is needed, comes in forms countries can afford, flows through institutions they can access and matches the scale of the climate challenge. Developed countries must fulfil their commitments, multilateral funds must become more responsive, global climate finance targets must be supported by transparent systems for measuring delivery, and the international community must recognise that the quality of finance matters as much as its quantity.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":11151,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[26],"writer":[45],"topic":[],"class_list":["post-11150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis","tag-climate-finance","writer-mercy-john"],"acf":{"url":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11150"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11187,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11150\/revisions\/11187"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11150"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/writer?post=11150"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=11150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}