Financing loss and damage and adaptation in Africa
Insights and analysis on closing Africa’s loss, damage, and adaptation finance gaps (2023–2025)
Africa continues to face intensifying climate impacts that threaten social, ecological, and economic systems across the continent. Yet despite some progress in recent years, the climate finance gap in Africa remains substantial, with the region receiving only a small share of global flows relative to its needs. This mismatch between mounting climate risks and available resources underscores the urgency of strengthening analytical capacity, evidence, and support for climate-vulnerable African countries.
This work was supported by a grant from the Open Society Foundation (OSF) and ran from September 2023 to August 2025. The project focused on deepening understanding of two areas where financing needs are particularly pressing for Africa: loss and damage and adaptation. It aimed to build capacity, expertise, and agency to support African countries in multilateral climate finance discussions, ensuring that emerging solutions reflect the realities and priorities of those most affected.
Financing Loss and Damage
Communities across Africa are experiencing escalating losses and damage from climate-related events, despite contributing the least to global greenhouse gas emissions. These impacts are increasingly exceeding countries’ ability to adapt, placing significant pressure on already constrained public finances. Yet global action to address loss and damage remains insufficient relative to the scale of the challenge.
The project’s work in this area strengthened understanding of the evolving landscape of loss and damage finance, as well as practical options to ensure that support reaches those who need it most.
Paper 1: Innovative Financing for Loss and Damage in Africa
A concise exploration of emerging financial instruments, Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) reforms, and innovative approaches that could unlock meaningful loss and damage finance tailored to African realities.
Paper 2: Operationalising the Small Grant Fund Access Modality for the Loss and Damage Fund
A focused analysis that identifies gaps in current access arrangements and outlines operational options for a small grant modality designed to channel funding directly to affected communities.
Financing Adaptation
Adaptation is a separate yet closely related area of climate finance that requires urgent attention. While impacts continue to intensify across Africa, adaptation finance remains severely underprovided and often difficult to access. Recent assessments show that Africa receives only a fraction of global adaptation finance — far below what is required to protect lives, livelihoods, and development gains.
The project supported work that helps clarify Africa’s adaptation finance needs, review progress toward key global goals, and identify measures to close persistent gaps.
Paper 3: Assessing the Doubling of Adaptation Finance in Africa
A clear assessment of the adaptation finance landscape in Africa, progress toward the Doubling of Adaptation Finance goal, and practical recommendations to accelerate delivery at the scale required.
Looking Forward
Although the OSF-supported project has now concluded, the insights generated through these publications remain available to inform ongoing efforts to strengthen climate finance for Africa. Taken together, the papers offer practical, evidence-based contributions to understanding how loss and damage and adaptation finance can better meet the urgent and growing needs of climate-vulnerable countries on the continent.