The African Climate Foundation (ACF) has invited experienced leaders from the private and public sectors, development finance and philanthropy to form a Steering Committee on Adaptation Investment (SCAI). The objective of the committee will be to explore and co-develop innovative financial mechanisms for mobilising, structuring, and disbursing funding for adaptation and resilience portfolios in Africa, including through the effective use of blended finance.

Addressing the Adaptation and Resilience Funding Gap

The substantive and persistent adaptation funding gap in Africa requires innovative financial solutions that can empower African countries to respond to the consequences of climate change that they are already facing. The recent floods in Kenya and the ongoing drought in Zambia do not represent just a challenge to disaster risk management authorities. Instead, they showcase more broadly how climate change exacerbates existing vulnerabilities and requires a strategic response to ensure long-term climate and economic resilience, as well as food, water and energy security.

In this context, the ACF is exploring the opportunity for establishing adaptation and resilience investment platforms in Kenya, Zambia and Malawi. These country-led platforms are intended to support the governments in taking a comprehensive, transformative and coordinated approach to climate adaptation, with particular focus on improving the resilience of critical economic sectors. The platforms will provide support for improved governance and coordination, access to technical advisory, such as cost-benefit and climate scenario analysis, capacity-building and stakeholder engagement. The objective will be to help prioritise and implement the national-level adaptation and resilience strategy through a package deal that secures funding for a portfolio of measures that maximises climate resilience and key developmental outcomes.

Developing Adaptation Finance Mechanisms in Africa

As mobilising the necessary resources for priority adaptation and resilience measures remains a significant barrier across the continent, the ACF has issued a call for proposals to help explore options for the design of the finance mechanisms underpinning the adaptation and resilience investment platforms in the pilot countries. The analysis, which will include the publication of a white paper on adaptation investment, will focus on considering how to mobilise funding at scale for a strategic package of adaptation measures while taking into consideration the financial and debt sustainability circumstances of each country and the approach to the disbursement of such resources. The ACF intends to collaborate with a broad range of prospective investors and funders, as well as African governments and implementing partners, to help find solutions that meaningfully address national-level climate adaptation and resilience needs.

The Steering Committee on Adaptation Investment (SCAI) 

The ACF’s Steering Committee includes industry experts who will oversee the development of the white paper on adaptation investment. The Steering Committee, which brings a wealth of experience from within and outside Africa, will meet regularly over the course of the year to also more broadly support the work of the ACF, in collaboration with other partners, on designing and establishing such adaptation and resilience investment platforms in the ACF pivot countries. This will also include facilitating broader engagement on investment in adaptation and resilience, sharing experience and insights into innovative financial mechanisms, discussing adaptation-focused initiatives and relevant analysis, etc.

Members include:

• Arend Kulenkampff: Sovereign Financing Lead and Director, Sustainability-linked Sovereign Debt Hub, Nature Finance
• Chitembo Kawimbe Chunga: Lead, Climate Smart Cities Program, Climate Investment Funds

• David Greenall: Global Managing Director – Climate Risk, Adaptation, Nature and Decarbonisation, KPMG

• Iva Detelinova: Senior Advisor, Adaptation and Resilience, The African Climate Foundation

• Katherine Stodulka: Director of the Blended Finance Taskforce and Partner, Systemiq

• Mphokolo Makara: Head, Energy & Infrastructure (East Africa), Standard Bank

• Olufunso Somorin: Regional Principal Officer (East Africa), African Development Bank

• Rachael Barza: Associate Director, Lead Climate Adaptation and Nature Finance, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
• Starla Griffin: Senior Advisor, Climate and Development Finance, Slaney Advisors Ltd

As per the terms of reference of the committee, membership to SCAI does not preclude the individuals or the organisations they represent from engaging with the ACF and/or applying to the ACF for funding, but the ACF reserves the right to ask them to recuse themselves from specific meetings or step down as members if it identifies there may be a risk of conflict of interest.

The ACF’s Adaptation and Resilience Programme

The ACF’s Adaptation and Resilience programme aims to support a transformative approach to adaptation in Africa through ecosystem coordination, evidence-based research and policymaking, innovative funding models, and institutional capacity. Beyond the Country Platforms described above, the ACF strategically coordinates the philanthropic sector to increase climate adaptation and resilience response in Africa. The ACF is also a signatory to the call to action on accelerating the climate adaptation response at COP28. In partnership with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the ACF published a series of country reports titled ‘From Climate Risk to Resilience’ for Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia. These reports unpack the economic impacts of climate change, offer country-specific contexts, and advocate for a more prioritised and coordinated approach to funding and implementing national adaptation measures.