Sahara Group has used the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to call for a major scale-up of sustainable investment and climate finance for Africa, warning that the continent faces a yearly funding gap of about $247 billion between what it needs to meet its climate goals and what it currently receives.
Speaking at a UNGA roundtable on Sustainable Global Investment, Economic Resilience and Climate Financing in New York, Dr Kola Adesina, Group Managing Director of Sahara Power Enterprise Group, said Africa requires an estimated $277 billion annually to implement its climate commitments but attracts only around $30 billion in climate finance flows each year.
Adesina argued that sustainable investment, economic resilience and climate finance must be pursued as interconnected priorities, not separate silos. He said Africa’s growth ambitions depend on building “productive economies” that can withstand economic, environmental and geopolitical shocks, while addressing persistent deficits in infrastructure, energy, food security and jobs.
He highlighted climate finance as a critical enabler of resilient growth, noting that African countries contribute less than 4% of global greenhouse-gas emissions yet face disproportionate exposure to droughts, floods, extreme heat and other climate-related risks.
To narrow the $247 billion annual shortfall, Adesina called for:Innovative financing structures that can unlock more capital for mitigation and adaptation projects.Stronger project preparation to make African investments more bankable and attractive to global capital.Greater mobilisation of African institutional capital, including pensions, insurers and sovereign funds.Deeper local-currency financing markets to reduce foreign-exchange risk and lower borrowing costs.Increased regional collaboration in energy, transport and logistics infrastructure to create larger, more investable markets.
The message aligns with wider African pushes at UNGA 2026 for more adaptation finance, faster delivery on loss-and-damage commitments and direct access for local institutions to climate funds, rather than routing money through multiple intermediaries.
For policymakers and investors, Sahara’s intervention underscores that Africa’s climate and development agendas are now inseparable. Without a significant increase in affordable, long-term finance, many countries risk falling short of their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement while struggling to fund basic infrastructure and social needs.
The group’s call for stronger project preparation and regional cooperation also points to a practical path forward: improving the quality and scale of investable projects, deepening capital markets and leveraging cross-border infrastructure to crowd in private capital alongside public and concessional resources.
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