Opinion: Deepen local voices for more climate finance accountability

The current surge in interest in climate financing presents an opportunity to rewrite funding mechanisms for African countries with strong foundations on radical accountability and local participation.

As thousands meet in Nairobi, Kenya, for the first Africa Climate Summit, the Bridgetown Initiative will figure prominently in the conversations. It calls for structural reform of multilateral banking with regard to climate financing and sovereign debt management. Global voices must continue to advocate for accountability and civic inclusion to be embedded in the emerging climate financing opportunities.

While it is pertinent for African countries to embrace climate-smart technologies and benefit from burgeoning climate investments — which reached $30 billion per year on the continent in 2020 — there is a need to engage in conversations on power imbalances that have rendered previous interventions ineffective and environmentally unsustainable.