Financing Climate Justice - From Policy to Action in Africa

Opinion by Joshua Amponsem, Co-Director of the Youth Climate Justice Fund. Delivered at the ENGAGE Africa 2025 Conference, hosted by AICPA and CIMA in Johannesburg.

As the planet hurtles deeper into climate-shock territory, one of the starkest failures in our collective response is not a lack of technology or awareness - it’s the way we finance climate justice. While finance is often described as the lifeblood of climate justice, it is flowing through arteries that rarely reach the heart. Despite record climate pledges and sustainability commitments, the communities most affected by climate change remain starved of resources and agency.

At every major summit, billions are pledged, commitments are signed, photos are taken. One side of the room celebrates the progress; the other side insists it’s still not enough.

Yet the most critical question rarely gets asked: Where does all that money actually go - and what impact does it have?

Is it reaching the people who need it most? Is Africa getting its fair share? And within Africa, are local governments, small businesses, and informal sectors able to access and use these funds to build resilience and opportunity? In most cases, the answer is no.

The Finance Architecture Problem

Global finance architecture still prioritises readiness, not need, and rewards stability, not equity. It calls this process de-risking - but the derisking is designed for investors, not for the people on the frontlines of climate impacts.

A huge share of “Africa climate” money and research funding ends up in Global North institutions rather than in the hands of African organisations doing the work. The result? Local capacity is starved, skills remain under-developed, and dependency deepens. From COP26’s forest pledges to adaptation funds and research grants, we are losing the battle for climate finance - not for lack of money, but for lack of justice in how it flows.

So how do we turn climate finance from policy into action? There are three imperatives we must address if we are to make justice the foundation of how Africa finances its future.

1. Redefine Who Is in the Room

If we don’t get the finance profession - the accountants, analysts, auditors - involved at the outset in shaping the systems, policies, and processes that determine Africa’s climate finance future, we will lose the battle before it begins.

Today, climate frameworks are developed in silos. Scientists talk to scientists. Economists to economists. Policymakers to policymakers. Finance experts often say, “Policy? That’s not my world.” But it should be. These policies are the gateways - or barriers - to climate capital.

When finance professionals are in the room, the conversation changes.

• Risk becomes measurable, not fearful.
• Impact becomes bankable, not theoretical.
• Policy becomes actionable, not aspirational.

Unlocking billions in climate capital isn’t just about policy reform - it’s about policy literacy across the finance profession. Climate finance isn’t a niche ESG issue; it’s the future of sustainable accounting, investment, and economic growth.

2. Invest in the People Behind the Numbers

Africa’s economy runs on its youth and its informal sector. Over 70% of our population is under 30, and 83% of jobs are informal. These aren’t just statistics - they are the backbone of our economies. Yet they remain locked out of formal finance systems.

There will be no climate justice without financing Africa’s youth. And this requires more than donor projects or once-off grants; it demands sustained investment in skills, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

Only a sliver of global climate philanthropy reaches youth-led organisations in Africa - most flows to the Global North. That imbalance undermines the continent’s greatest asset: its people.

When I co-founded the Green Africa Youth Organisation as a student, we had no access to formal finance. Today, through initiatives like the Africa Climate Innovation Challenge, we’re backing young innovators who are developing low-carbon construction materials and energy-efficient solutions tailored to African realities. Through the Youth Climate Justice Fund (YCJF), we’ve channelled over $2 million and unlocked more than $20 million directly to youth-led groups without intermediaries or gatekeepers, because trust is the highest form of due diligence.

If local banks, investors, and philanthropies adopted this same trust-based model - designed for African contexts - we could unlock a wave of innovation that no global summit could ever match.

3. Build a Healthier Finance Ecosystem

Africa’s climate finance landscape is still externally driven and shaped by global perceptions of risk. We must change the narrative from “Africa as a risk” to “Africa as a return.”

This means blending philanthropic and private capital to de-risk local innovation; using public funds strategically - not as charity or CSI, but as catalytic capital; and designing blended finance models suited to African economies, not copied from foreign templates.

Concessional loans could fund community solar co-operatives. Insurance models could be re-engineered to protect smallholder farmers. ESG standards could be reframed to include indigenous and informal economies - restoring confidence in ESG as a vehicle for real impact, not greenwashing. Finance can accelerate Africa’s green transition - but only if we reimagine what “investment-ready” looks like in an African context.

From Numbers to Narratives

Ultimately, climate finance is not about money - it’s about people. Behind every figure on a balance sheet lies a human story: A woman in a Lagos market trying to keep her produce fresh under rising heat; a small business owner in Durban rebuilding after yet another catastrophic flood;  and a young solar engineer in Ghana whose solution can’t scale - not because it’s unviable, but because investors deem it too risky.

Financing climate justice means changing that story. It means moving from counting money to accounting for impact, from risk avoidance to risk sharing and from pledges to partnerships.

When we make that shift, Africa will no longer be at the mercy of external finance. It will become the heartbeat of global sustainability.

Because climate justice isn’t a line item.

It is the bottom line.

Joshua Amponsem is the Co-Director of the Youth Climate Justice Fund, Founder of the Green Africa Youth Organisation, and a former UN Climate Programme Specialist.