Reimagining Global Cooperation through Climate Finance in Sub-Saharan Africa

AIA Fellow Fadzei Chipato presented her research project on the significance of climate finance for climate justice, trust, and international cooperation, with a particular focus on Southern Africa. The starting point is the principle of “Common but Differentiated Responsibilities” (CBDR): Industrialized countries bear greater responsibility for climate change due to their historical emissions, while many developing countries have emitted significantly less but are particularly hard hit by the consequences. Climate finance should therefore be understood not as voluntary development aid, but as an expression of historical and political responsibility.

This issue is particularly relevant for Southern Africa. The region contributes only a small fraction to global emissions but is severely affected by droughts, floods, cyclones, rising temperatures, food insecurity, and energy shortages. At the same time, poverty, debt, limited institutional capacity, and dependence on agriculture constrain the region’s ability to adapt to climate change. Climate finance is therefore crucial for adaptation, resilience, and addressing loss and damage. Fadzei Chipato analyzes three key financing commitments: the annual target of $100 billion agreed upon at COP15, financing for adaptation measures, and the Loss and Damage Fund established at COP27. A central argument put forward by Fadzei Chipato is that climate finance is closely linked to the traditional development aid architecture. As a result, donor countries can continue to determine how and under what conditions funds are used. She criticizes this as a continuation of historical power imbalances and colonial-era dependencies. Climate finance can thus reproduce existing inequalities, even though it is actually intended to promote climate justice. These structural problems affect the relationship of trust between the Global North and the Global South.

Fadzei Chipato’s study identifies a research gap in that, to date, research has primarily focused on global financial flows and institutional structures, while the perspectives of climate policy actors in Southern Africa have received less attention. In her project, she therefore examines how these actors perceive structural inequalities and what effects these have on climate justice, trust, and cooperation.