Global climate finance leaves out cities: fixing it is critical to battling climate change

Under the Paris Agreement, which came into force in 2016, countries agreed to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and work together to adapt to the effects of climate change. To act on this, and codify their individual commitments, each country submitted its so-called Nationally Determined Contribution.

These clearly spell out the climate actions they intend to undertake to limit global warming to below 2℃, compared to pre-industrial levels. The first contributions were officially submitted in 2020. They are meant to be updated every five years.

Based on the cost estimates from the 51 African countries that submitted their plans in 2020, the financial burden of achieving their contributions is about US$2.8 trillion between now and 2030. The same African governments have cumulatively pledged to contribute about US$264 billion of this from their own national coffers. This means the missing gap is still US$2.5 trillion.

Where is this going to come