The countries of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD)—Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda—bear little historic responsibility for climate change, but are greatly exposed to its impacts.1 Recent years have seen escalating climate changes and devastating climate-induced disasters, including droughts, floods, sea level rise, storms and desertification which affect livelihoods, poverty, water and food systems, ecosystems, health and infrastructure. These impacts are particularly severe across the 60–70% of the region classified as arid and semi-arid lands and for the agricultural, pastoral and agro-pastoral systems that support the livelihoods of much of the population.

This report provides a detailed, regional-level analysis of the climate finance flowing to the region, as well as its intersections with debt, agriculture, gender and humanitarian financing. The aim is to inform ongoing discourse on transforming climate financing and contribute to reimagining a global financial architecture that is fit-for-purpose to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Eight key findings emerge from the analysis. They demonstrate that climate finance flows remain inadequate to address the urgent needs of countries in the IGAD region, especially those that are fragile and affected by conflict. This comes as the impacts of the climate crisis continue to escalate, worsening poverty, hunger and inequality in the region. That the countries of the IGAD region have contributed little to climate change yet bear the brunt of its impact while climate finance flowing to the region in its current state is not adequate to redress this imbalance is fundamentally unjust. Climate finance is not about charity. It’s about justice.