Moderator: Dr. Meggan Spires, Senior Manager: Climate Change, Energy & Resilience, ICLEI Africa

Languages: English and French

More about the webinar

It is well known that cities in Africa are some of the most vulnerable in the world, and for them to become more climate resilient, a significant amount of funding is required to enable climate change adaptation. However, Africa is the region that has received the lowest proportion of climate change finance to date. In 2016 as little as 4,1 % (USD 19 billion) of global climate finance flowed to Africa. Of the funds that are directed to African countries, very little flows to the city-level, where climate change impacts are felt, and most is allocated to climate change mitigation, not adaptation, despite adaptation being a major priority in Africa.

As cities deal with the current COVID-19 pandemic and develop plans on how to recover, there is an opportunity to re-think development and make sure plans offer solutions that build resilience from a health perspective but also strongly consider climate change adaptation. Finance for climate change adaptation is thus more critical than ever.

Join ICLEI Africa and CoMSSA for a webinar with city leaders and key experts to discuss what barriers African countries and cities face in accessing finance for climate change adaptation, and some of the innovative adaptation finance mechanisms that have been used to enhance the flow of adaptation finance to African cities.