---
title: "Africa’s climate finance gap is also a leadership gap"
description: "With COP32 headed to Addis Ababa, Africa’s climate future depends on leaders who can structure finance, build coalitions and turn sustainability into jobs and resilience."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Sponsored Content"
author: "Gordon Institute of Business Science"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/gordon-institute-of-business-science/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-11-09-africas-climate-finance-gap-is-also-a-leadership-gap/"
published: "2026-11-09T05:00:00"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 1033
---

# Africa’s climate finance gap is also a leadership gap

> With COP32 headed to Addis Ababa, Africa’s climate future depends on leaders who can structure finance, build coalitions and turn sustainability into jobs and resilience.

By Gordon Institute of Business Science · Published 9 November 2026, 07:00 SAST

## Content

As negotiators prepare to gather in Antalya for COP 31 on 9 November, the African Group of Negotiators will be pushing for an "implementation COP". This means a focus on the delivery on commitments made in the past. This makes sense as Africa produces less than 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet needs an estimated $277 billion a year through 2030 to implement its national climate plans. Current climate finance flows cover roughly 11% of that. But leaders in African boardrooms, ministries and banks need to be getting ready for action – if the money arrived tomorrow, would we be ready to use it well?

### **The gap behind the gap**

We love to argue about the size of the cheque or commitment. COP29 settled on at least $300 billion a year for developing countries by 2035, and Antalya will be the next step in that process. We need to be asking critical questions of this process - is the commitment enough? Who pays, and by when? How much of the commitment is a loan dressed up as assistance?

Africa’s negotiators have pointed out that finance can hardly be called accessible when the communities hit hardest by climate change can’t navigate the application process, and where there is a lack of clarity. Somewhere between the pledge and the tangible project sit teams who have to structure the deals, manage risk, convince the board and keep the partners honest. This means there are many potential stumbling blocks between the financial commitment and the realisation of climate projects

Ultimately, we only see the solar farm, the climate-resilient farming scheme or a functioning grid materialise when the right combination of project readiness, skills, authority and negotiation converge to make it happen. And that is what Africa can fix while the talk shops are ongoing.

### **Systems thinking is not a soft skill**

Sustainability challenges do not respect traditional boundaries. The interconnectedness and complexity of our governance, economies, businesses and communities requires sustainability leaders to adopt ‘big picture thinking’. Think of a mining company’s path towards decarbonisation. This relies on a network of factors, like grid reliability, water security, community licence to operate and the carbon rules of the markets it sells into. Decision makers need to be aware of the system effects of changes, and the impacts that ripple through society – good and bad.

Systems thinking is the discipline of seeing those connections before they materialise. The art of finding leverage points, anticipating knock-on effects and making decisions that last for many decades requires foresight. In African contexts, where infrastructure gaps, currency volatility, informal economies and young populations all interact, this approach is vital. Adopting a systems thinking lens is the difference between a transition that builds jobs and resilience and one that strands workers and assets.

### **Rethinking the economics of sustainability**

Here is where I’d like to challenge the conventional framing. Too much of the sustainability conversation in Africa still treats sustainability as a cost: the cost of compliance or of reporting. Or sustainability is viewed as something from the West, that is being imposed on African countries.

Yet, Africa is known for its ability to leapfrog! Mobile money bypassed the bank branch, pay-as-you-go solar reached households electricity grids couldn’t, and a whole generation has never needed a landline. This showcases the immense potential of solutions shaped to fit local contexts. Therefore, the relevant question is, what does sustainability enable?

Sustainability is the next arena for that kind of invention, unlocking value across economies, and delivering potential for innovative areas of the economy to expand. This also demands that we rethink what counts as a ‘return’. In addition to lower carbon emissions, African countries gain resilience, jobs and local value capture.

And while none of this happens by accident, and it isn’t always easy, it’s worth the effort. Delivering this type of impact takes leaders who can work across finance, operations, policy and community, and who are willing to question the assumptions built into how value is measured. This calls for a leader who can see the big picture and draw on systems thinking to deliver change, building powerful implementing coalitions.

### **From awareness to agency**

The awareness of the climate crisis is not scarce among African executives. Increasingly businesses decisions need to be shaped in response to adverse climate events that hit clients, employees and infrastructure. However, many corporate leaders are timid, where sustainability strategies live in an annual report, not backed by a capital allocation decision. If your sustainability plan does not change what you fund, hire, build or stop doing, it is a communications exercise. This is where the shift from ‘managers’ to ‘leaders’ is needed – the continent is calling for bold, visionary, sustainability-minded leaders ready to drive the next continental leapfrogging.

This powerful class of leaders are a rare breed, needing the ability to read complex systems, the financial literacy to structure investments, the courage to challenge entrenched models, and the networks to build coalitions across business, finance, policy and civil society. These leaders will have to engage in honest reflection on the values and motives behind decisions, because the most difficult sustainability trade-offs are moral and political.

### **The road to Addis**

Antalya COP31 is not the last stop. Ethiopia will host COP32 in Addis Ababa in November 2027, bringing the world's climate negotiators to African soil. Yet, as the African Group's chair has cautioned, hosting a COP in Africa does not automatically deliver for Africa. Outcomes will depend on the clarity of African priorities and the capacity to implement them.

We need to ensure that the leadership capacity we need to deliver change, exists. This is what the Africa Sustainability Leadership Programme, [run by GIBS in partnership with the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership](https://www.gibs.co.za/programmes/africa-sustainability-leadership-programme), is designed to develop. Over four months, starting in July 2027, blending online learning with in-person modules in Johannesburg and Cambridge, senior executives tackle critical organisational challenges, unpacking sustainability, sustainable finance and systems thinking and driving new strategy and investment decisions. The final module concludes days before COP32 opens in Addis. African sustainability leaders will be ready. **DM**

*Author: Dr. Kelly Alexander, Programme Director, Africa Sustainability Leadership Programme (GIBS and Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership)*

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