Delivered at the ENGAGE Africa 2025 Conference, hosted by AICPA and CIMA in Johannesburg. As climate shocks intensify across the globe, one of the most profound shortcomings in the world’s response is not the scarcity of solutions, nor the lack of scientific knowledge. It is the inequitable way climate action is financed.
Climate finance is often referred to as the lifeblood of climate justice, yet in Africa, that lifeblood rarely reaches the communities most affected. Despite record-breaking pledges and a surge in global sustainability commitments, frontline communities remain deprived of both resources and agency. At global summits, pledges are made, agreements are signed, and progress is publicly celebrated. Yet a critical set of questions consistently goes unanswered: Where does the money actually go? Is it reaching the people who need it most? Is Africa receiving its fair share? And within the continent, are local governments, small businesses and informal sectors able to access these funds to build resilience? Too often, the answer is no.
A Structural Finance Problem.
The architecture of global climate finance still prioritises “readiness” over real need, and rewards stability rather than equity. The dominant approach, known as de-risking, focuses on investor confidence rather than the safety and resilience of communities living with climate impacts.
A significant portion of funds allocated to Africa never reach African organisations. Much of it circulates within institutions in the Global North, starving local organisations of resources, weakening capacity, and deepening dependency.
From forest finance pledges made at COP26 to adaptation and research funding, the continent continues to lose ground, not because funding does not exist, but because the system that allocates it is fundamentally unjust.To shift climate finance from policy to implementation, Africa must confront three critical imperatives.
1. Redefining Who Sits at the Table
For Africa to secure and deploy climate finance effectively, finance professionals must be involved from the outset. Accountants, analysts and auditors shape the systems that determine how capital flows, yet they are often excluded from early-stage climate policy discussions.Climate frameworks are developed in disciplinary silos: scientists speak to scientists, economists to economists, and policymakers to policymakers. The result is policy that is aspirational but difficult to implement.
When finance professionals are included, risk becomes quantifiable, impact becomes investable and policy becomes actionable. Unlocking climate capital requires not only policy reform but also climate policy literacy within the finance sector. Climate finance is no longer a fringe ESG issue; it is central to Africa’s future economic architecture.
2. Investing in the People Behind the Data
Africa’s youth and informal sector form the backbone of its economy. Over 70% of the population is under 30, while the informal sector accounts for more than 80% of employment. Despite their scale and potential, these groups remain outside the formal finance ecosystem.There can be no climate justice without meaningful investment in Africa’s youth. Today, only a small fraction of global climate philanthropy reaches youth-led organisations on the continent. Most funding flows to institutions abroad, diluting impact and undermining Africa’s entrepreneurial potential. The experiencee of the Green Africa Youth Organisation and the Africa Climate Innovation Challenge demonstrates what is possible when African youth are trusted and supported. Through the Youth Climate Justice Fund (YCJF), more than $2 million has been channelled directly to youth-led groups, unlocking an additional $20 million without intermediaries. This trust-based finance model is rooted in African realities, proving that when local innovation is backed with confidence, transformative impact follows.If African banks, investors and philanthropies adopt similar context-driven investment approaches, the continent could unleash a wave of climate innovation unmatched by any global summit.
3. Building a Healthier, Africa-Centred Finance Ecosystem
Africa’s climate finance landscape remains heavily influenced by external perceptions of risk. It is time to shift the narrative summit Africa as a risk to Africa as a return. Achieving this shift requires blending philanthropic and private capital, deploying public funds as catalytic capital, not as charity, and designing blended finance models tailored to African economies. Community solar cooperatives, redesigned insurance mechanisms for smallholder farmers, and ESG standards that acknowledge informal and indigenous economies can reshape how investment is directed on the continent. Climate finance can accelerate Africa’s green transition, but only if investment-readiness is defined through an African lens. From Numbers to Narratives Ultimately, climate finance is not about capital flow, it is about people. Behind every balance sheet entry is a story: a market trader confronting extreme heat, a small business owner rebuilding after floods, or a young engineer whose innovation cannot scale because investors deem it too risky. Financing climate justice requires a fundamental narrative shift, from simply counting money to accounting for impact; from avoiding risk to sharing it; from pledges to partnerships grounded in equity.When that shift occurs, Africa will no longer rely on external financial architectures. Instead, it will serve as a global benchmark for sustainable, inclusive development. Because climate justice is not a line item. It is the bottom line.
