How debt burden aggravates Africa climate calamity

Several homes lie submerged at Mwariki Estate on September 15, 2025, following the swelling of Lake Nakuru. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard] Despite being classified among countries at high risk of debt distress, Kenya's climate finance gap continues to widen. A new report titled State of Africa's Environment highlights how Africa's debt burden continues to constrain the continent's ability to finance climate adaptation and mitigation efforts. Kenya requires an estimated Sh1.4 trillion ($11.2 billion) annually to implement its climate plans. However, over the past decade, it has received only Sh12.7 billion per year in committed climate-related development finance. The report underscores the stark imbalance facing the world's most climate-vulnerable countries-between their climate financing needs and the financial resources available. "Over half of the low-and-middle-income countries with high climate vulnerability are either already in debt distress or at high risk of it. "Their experiences offer a sharp lens into how debt burdens shrink fiscal space, deepen climate vulnerability, and how international climate finance still falls short of addressing this imbalance," the report warns. Kenya, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, The Gambia, and Ghana, are listed among those at high risk of debt crises while Djibouti, Ethiopia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Zambia, and the DR Congo, are already in debt distress. Debt distress refers to a situation where a country is unable to meet its financial obligations, necessitating debt restructuring. When a sovereign default, it typically loses access to international markets and faces higher borrowing costs in the future. "All the while, damages from climate-related disasters continue to pile up. When we add the lens of sovereign debt to this situation, the picture becomes murkier. These countries are either already at high risk of debt distress or in debt distress." The report warns that for many of these countries-despite facing worsening climate shocks, low levels of readiness, and mounting debt-there is little room left to invest in adaptation or recovery. In 2022, the 36 countries analysed spent a combined total of Sh1.7 trillion ($13.24 billion) on servicing external debt-an amount that exceeds what they collectively received for climate action. "This is 1.8 times more than what they have received as climate-related development finance in a year," the report reveals. In January, the UN projected that African nations would spend nearly 30 per cent of their revenues on debt servicing in 2025, leaving minimal fiscal space to address climate losses and damages. Climate financing has been further undermined by current political headwinds-particularly foreign aid cuts and declining international cooperation from developed countries. The United States' withdrawal from the Paris Agreement weakened global climate action, and major donors-including the US, UK, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and Sweden-are cutting their foreign aid budgets. International financial institutions are also scaling back on earlier climate finance commitments. "For much of the Global South, the financial landscape for development and climate looks bleak," the report warns.

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