Budget study across 10 African countries highlights the hidden costs of climate action and
strengthens calls for grant-based climate financing ahead of COP30.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (9 September 2025) – African governments are making steady
investments in climate action, but a new report from DevTransform shows that these efforts
come with painful trade-offs – with climate allocations in some cases exceeding government
funds budgeted for key national healthcare and welfare programs. The report, released
today at the Africa Climate Summit, also reveals the crushing weight of debt in Africa, with
governments paying $20-$30 in debt repayments for every $1 invested in climate action. The
study of ten national budgets exposes the “opportunity costs” of climate spending, and
underscores the injustice at the heart of the climate crisis.
“African governments are already paying beyond their fair share to address a crisis for which
they are least responsible,” said Martha Getachew Bekele, Director of DevTransform.
“They are making consistent and deliberate investments in climate action, even under
severe budget pressures. But this fiscal sacrifice comes with a very real human cost – in
hospitals, classrooms, and welfare programs – as this report makes clear.”
The new report – More than its fair share: Africa’s fiscal burden in financing climate action
amid development trade-offs and debt – analyzes climate allocations in the national budgets
of ten countries: Cameroon, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania,
Namibia, and Zambia.
The data reveal that, without new grant-based external financing, climate allocations risk
displacing essential services such healthcare, education, social welfare, and infrastructure.
Some key findings from the report:
● In Ethiopia, the money set aside for climate action is more than double (204%) the
Federal government’s budgets for universal health coverage, and nearly twice
(182%) what it spends on maternal and child health, nutrition, disease control, and
community healthcare.
● In Namibia, the government spends more on climate allocations than on hospital
services, with climate spending about one and a half times (159%) the hospital
budget.
● In Kenya, climate spending is almost three-quarters (74.8%) of what the
government allocates to primary education.
● In Cameroon, the government spends more than twice as much (215%) on climate
allocations as it spends on social protection programs, excluding pensions.
● In Ghana, climate allocations could finance more than half (53.9%) of the annual
cost of road and bridge construction.
A double burden: Climate and debt
The analysis shows that debt servicing is now one of the largest items in African budgets,
consuming between 10% and 30% of national budgets, on average. Despite this consistent
pressure, governments continue to make deliberate and consistent allocations to climate
action. But the debt pressures are enormous.
On average, the African governments in the study spend an equivalent of 10 to 30
times more on external debt servicing than on climate action. In Kenya, for every $1
invested in climate action, the government spends $29 to service its debt. In Ghana, the
figure is $21; in Cameroon, it’s $27. In Mali – a country with incredibly high vulnerability to
climate change – the government spends $75 on debt for every $1 dedicated to climate
action.
COP30 implications
The report calls on development actors to provide climate finance as grants and additional
resources – not as loans that keep African countries trapped in a cycle of debt. The authors
also call for greater support for debt cancelation to free up government funds for climate
action.
“This analysis makes clear why COP30 must deliver debt cancelation and a new wave of
grant-based climate finance,” Ms. Bekele said. “Without just international support, African
countries will continue to be forced to face impossible trade-offs between protecting their
people from the impacts of the climate crisis and providing essential services like healthcare,
schools, and roads.”
About DevTransform
Development Transformations (DevTransform) is a mission-driven, African-based and African-led
organization that supports African negotiators, policymakers, and advocates through data, evidence,
and analysis. Operating at the intersection of financing for development, climate, and crisis,
DevTransform contributes to the reform and design of innovative financing mechanisms that advance
equitable, sustainable, and resilient development in Africa, with lessons and influence that extend
globally
For more information, or to request an interview, contact:
Clare Wamalwa, [email protected] , or +254 722 772 426
Ali-Hassan Mohammed [email protected] or +44 7479 689368
