Africa’s climate betrayal: A global injustice
Africa faces disproportionate climate impacts, inadequate finance, and exploitation. Justice requires equity, local empowerment, and fulfillment of global climate commitments. Africa stands at the frontline of a climate crisis it did little to cause. Despite contributing less than 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, the continent bears a disproportionate share of the impacts, a phenomenon now recognized as climate injustice. From deadly droughts in the Horn of Africa to devastating floods in West and Central Africa, the consequences are not abstract. They are immediate, measurable, and catastrophic. Yet, in the face of growing emergencies, the international community’s response has been grossly inadequate, marked by broken promises, slow disbursements, and a disturbing tolerance for systemic corruption both within and beyond Africa’s borders.
According to the UNDP, Africa received just 2% of global climate finance between 2011 and 2021, amounting to approximately $170 billion. However, the estimated need stands at $2.8 trillion by 2030 to meet Nationally Determined Contributions.[1] In 2021-2022, only $30 billion was mobilized, a mere 11% of the annual requirement. While multilateral development banks overtook bilateral sources in recent years, financing remains overwhelmingly debt-based and heavily skewed toward mitigation over adaptation. This contradicts the region’s urgent priorities, given Africa’s high vulnerability and low adaptive capacity.[2]
The Climate Crisis on the Ground
Speaking at the 2022 United Nations General Assembly, President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana declared: “Those who pollute the least suffer the most. It is unjust. We must not be made to pay for the carbon-intensive development of others.” Kenyan climate activist Elizabeth Wathuti echoed the same urgency: “The droughts have dried our hopes. We cannot adapt to extinction.” Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s former Finance Minister Tendai Biti, speaking during the 2023 Security Laws Amendment Bill debate in Parliament, argued, “Climate change is the greatest existential threat to African nations. It must be treated as a security issue, not just an environmental one.”
Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya have experienced five consecutive failed rainy seasons, culminating in the region’s worst drought in 40 years. Over 23 million people faced acute hunger in 2022 alone. In Somalia, drought displaced 1.2 million people by the end of that year.[3] In Nigeria, the worst flooding in over a decade occurred in 2022, killing more than 600 people and displacing over 1.3 million. Mozambique faced similar devastation, with repeated cyclone events, cyclone Idai in 2019 and Freddy in 2023, crippling infrastructure and livelihoods.[4]
Bureaucratic hurdles further weaken climate finance delivery. The Green Climate Fund and similar mechanisms are marred by long delays, complex application processes, and misaligned donor priorities. National institutions often lack the technical and administrative capacity to access these funds, a fact that undermines timely, context-sensitive responses. Moreover, rigid fiduciary standards and “one-size-fits-all” conditionalities ignore Africa’s heterogeneous institutional realities.
Furthermore, Africa’s natural resources have become battlegrounds for exploitation under the guise of climate action. Carbon offset schemes and conservation initiatives often lead to land grabs that displace indigenous populations without consent or compensation. Recent deals between private firms and African states have placed millions of hectares under foreign control, raising serious questions about sovereignty, environmental justice, and equitable development.[5]
The climate crisis also intersects with fundamental human rights. As highlighted in UNEP’s report on Climate Change and Human Rights, climate-induced disruptions undermine access to clean water, food, health services, and housing rights protected under international law.[6] Coastal communities in Nigeria and Mozambique face repeated displacement due to flooding, while droughts in Ethiopia and Somalia continue to drive food insecurity and migration. Without urgent remedial action, such events will increase in frequency and intensity.
Toward Climate Justice
International solidarity, to date, has largely failed the African continent. Commitments made under the Paris Agreement, including the annual $100 billion pledge, have been consistently unmet or manipulated through creative accounting. Loss and damage funding remains politically contested, despite the glaring need. The global climate architecture continues to prioritize mitigation in industrialized countries over adaptation in vulnerable regions, reinforcing a neocolonial hierarchy of climate responsibility and resource control.[7]
To break this cycle, a paradigm shift is required. First, developed nations must honor and scale up climate finance commitments, ensuring grants take precedence over loans. Secondly, mechanisms like the Loss and Damage Fund must become fully operational with transparent governance and direct access for vulnerable states. Thirdly, African governments must strengthen institutional frameworks to eliminate corruption and ensure inclusive, accountable climate governance.
Finally, climate action must be grounded in justice. That means empowering local communities, securing land rights, and rejecting exploitative models disguised as green development. Africa is not asking for charity, it demands equity, reparative justice, and a future shaped by its own people and priorities. Anything less would not only perpetuate injustice but deepen it in the face of a worsening planetary emergency.
BY EMMANUEL GUMBO
[1] UNDP. Climate Finance in Africa: An Overview of Climate Finance Flows, Challenges and Opportunities. United Nations Development Programme, 2024.
[2] OECD. Climate Finance Provided and Mobilised by Developed Countries: Aggregate Trends Updated with 2021 Data. OECD Publishing, 2023.
[3] WMO. State of the Climate in Africa 2022. World Meteorological Organization, 2023.
[4] UNDRR. Africa Regional Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction. United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, 2023.
[5] Land Matrix. Large-scale Land Acquisitions in Africa: A Regional Overview. Land Matrix Initiative, 2023.
[6] UNEP. Climate Change and Human Rights. United Nations Environment Programme, 2015.
[7] UNFCCC. Standing Committee on Finance: Report on the Determination of Needs of Developing Country Parties. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 2023.
