Increasing the value of climate finance in an uncertain environment: Diaspora financial resources as a source of climate finance for Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Climate change may create and increase world inequality and social conflicts. Moreover, regardless of the various developments in science and technology, there are still uncertainties regarding the precise extent and consequences of climate change. Additionally, financial resources to support climate change mitigation, adaptation and capacity building programmes in Africa may be considered to be far from satisfactory in terms of their size, source and distribution. Global policymakers are therefore keen to discover how climate finance resources can be mobilised from a wide variety of sources, instruments and channels to complement public sources. To address this knowledge gap, this paper undertook an analysis of project reports, policy reviews, policy briefs, and academic literature reviews on the barriers and opportunities for private investments in climate change programmes. The paper highlights that Sub-Saharan Africa has the potential to mobilise over US $100 billion annually from its diaspora population, and these funds can be channelled towards climate change investments and programmes or leveraged with other conventional climate finance modalities. This paper therefore provides insights into the measures that can be undertaken in order to enable Africa’s diaspora to become important financiers of climate change programmes.