Mapping climate financial flows in West Africa to improve access to climate finance

Access to climate finance is a vital factor in achieving development that is both low-carbon and resilient in the face of climate change – a major challenge for West Africa, as elsewhere in the OACPS regions. With the support of the Intra-ACP GCCA+ West Africa Programme, ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) has launched a project to map climate-related financial flows. The aim is to pool Member States’ efforts to access information and ensure these flows are effectively geared towards building resilience and supporting low-carbon development in the region.

This mapping responds to several challenges:

• Climate finance flows are increasing steadily, but they are still far from commensurate with the climate investment needs.
• Tracking and monitoring financial aid received is an obligation under the Paris Agreement. However, tracking methods and monitoring measures differ from country to country.

In the light of these issues, developing a harmonised method and coordinating monitoring initiatives at a regional level constitutes a major challenge for most.

ECOWAS has a role to play in monitoring climate finance allocated to the region. In particular, ECOWAS has embarked on a process with the 17 countries in the ECOWAS-CILSS region to institutionalise regular monitoring of climate finance directed to the region.

The publication of a first mapping report marks a major milestone in this long-term project. Acclaimed by all the countries in the region, it highlights the importance of financial flow analysis becoming a long-term process.

Launched in September 2020, the purpose of the project is to supply complete, accurate, up-to-date information on available resources to finance climate action, on a regular basis.

The resource has been designed for use by several types of stakeholder, by:

• enabling policymakers to determine performance in resource mobilisation, identify weaknesses to be remedied at various levels, and encourage partnerships and experience-sharing. It gives them an objective basis when reporting on the financial support needed and received, so that they can abide by their commitments pursuant to international cooperation on climate affairs;

• allowing regional institutions to provide better guidance and coordination in their support to countries in the light of any weaknesses identified;

• enabling ‘transparency stakeholders’ such as civil society, the press, community organisations, producer organisations, etc., as well as the media to have access to information about the resources used and where they are directed; and

• allowing researchers working on climate finance to have a regional overview of the needs and challenges involved.

Download full report here