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This study explores the potential impact of climate finance (cf) on food prices in Sub-Saharan Africa (ssa) as climate change continues to create food scarcity and increase food prices. The study analyses data from 43 ssa countries between 2006 and 2018 using a panel fixed effect model with Driscoll-Kraay standard errors andmethods of moments quantile regressions (mmqr). The findings indicate that countries in ssa that receive more cf, improve their fight against corruption, have good rainfall patterns, experience reduced extreme temperatures, have depreciated currencies, larger populations and higher gdp growth, reduce food imports, increase domestic food supply, and demonstrate high governance and social readiness are likely to experience stable or reduced food prices. Based on these results, the study recommends that ssa governments prioritise anticorruption efforts to earn donor trust and increase cf, ultimately leading to lower food prices in the sub-region. Further, the findings indicate that good rainfall patterns reduce food prices: this shows the need for ssa countries to invest in policies that lead to reliablewater supply as irrigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study seeks to analyse whether countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are using climate finance for poverty alleviation. It investigates SSA's readiness to apply climate finance to achieve poverty alleviation goals. Data for 44 SSA countries over the period 2006–2017 were employed and analysed, using System Generalized Method of Moment. Two poverty alleviation variables are employed; GDP per capita and social inequality. Readiness was segregated into social, economic and governance readiness. The findings show that climate finance helps poverty alleviation. However, climate finance indicated a worsening effect on social inequality when countries strengthen regulatory quality and control of corruption. The study finds evidence to support that economic readiness is relatively important in eradicating poverty compared with social and governance readiness. It is recommended that climate funds should be disbursed through channels (social and governance readiness), which would yield more poverty-reduction effects, under greater supervision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper contributes towards filling a 'blind spot' in the field of climate finance by investigating the role of climate finance for behavioural insights in developing countries. The evidence review synthesises 71 high‐quality studies and focuses on clean fuel adoption and household energy‐saving behaviour in developing countries. The synthesis finds that there is a need for climate finance from developed countries that is more targeted towards interventions and measures that support household decision‐making in developing countries by engaging with stakeholders that understand local attitudes, constraints and knowledge levels governing the perception of health and environmental risks associated with energy‐consuming technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ensuring access to sustainable energy is equally relevant for both sustainable development and climate change mitigation. Mobilising private finance in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries will, in turn, be of crucial importance for achieving both Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 – which calls for universal energy access – and climate change mitigation goals defined under the Paris Agreement. In this paper, we assess how UNFCCC-backed climate finance instruments have engaged private investment for energy-focused climate mitigation in SSA. Based on this assessment, we develop recommendations for public climate finance institutions. Our work builds on documentary and database analysis and interviews, as well as participatory methodologies applied at a stakeholder workshop conducted in Kampala, Uganda, in 2018. Three case studies from Ethiopia, Madagascar and South Africa illustrate how climate finance interacts with domestic policy instruments, including in relation to the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism, South Africa's domestic renewable energy auctions, and the Green Climate Fund. The paper finds that there is no 'catch all' success model and approaches need to be tailored to local circumstances. Key policy insights International market mechanisms and climate finance can be key catalysts for private multibillion-dollar investment in energy access and climate mitigation, even under the challenging conditions facing many SSA nations. Market mechanisms need to be managed well to provide the private sector with the certainty needed to commit to fresh investments. A programmatic approach with standardised baseline and monitoring methodologies should be anchored in the next generation of project-based market mechanisms under Paris Agreement Article 6. Linking international and regional development programmes with the international carbon market might be an option for closing financing gaps, while at the same time increasing synergies between climate goals and SDGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective capacity building is vital for developing countries to enable them to contribute to global efforts to mitigate climate change and adapt to its consequences. This letter provides first empirical evidence on the impact of climate finance on institutional capacity in recipient countries. Using data from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and a World Bank index, we find a robust positive relation for sub-Saharan Africa from dynamic panel data estimation whereas no such effect is detected across remaining sample countries. While focusing on identification, however, our analysis should be seen as an initial piece of the puzzle. In light of the abundance of different capacity building concepts and definitions in the field of climate change future research is needed to understand the underlying mechanics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ambitious climate policy increases the cost of energy and therefore has important interactions with the prospects of development in the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. These interactions include the potential for gain for the continent in the form of new trade opportunities and climate finance. In this paper we quantify the costs and benefits of climate policy in Sub-Saharan Africa. Using an Integrated Assessment Model, we consider key characteristics of the continent, including the favorable conditions for renewable energy. A newly designed scenario analysis allows identifying the main drivers of the results. We show that Sub-Saharan Africa could implement climate policy in line with the 2 °C target at roughly net zero costs if the international community follows up on its commitment towards supporting developing countries as declared in the Paris Agreement. Sub-Saharan Africa could become an important supplier of energy from biomass and could thus even benefit from more ambitious climate policy due to higher demand for this source of energy. The absence of a painful trade-off between short-term development and long-term climate stabilization could provide policy-makers with a much richer policy option space than previously considered. One such option is to link climate policy with poverty reduction through, for example, the provision of clean electricity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By using the integrated assessment model RICE this article carries out a scenario analysis with different assumptions about international negotiations on climate change, in particular hypothesising about reduction in targets for greenhouse gas emissions, technology transfers and financial transfer programmes. It finds that, in terms of growth, developing countries and in particular sub-Saharan Africa will benefit from agreements that reduce the level of pollution and promote technological diffusion. Moreover, when developed countries are subject to emissions limits and poor regions have no such commitments, financial transfers from rich to developing countries for adaptation and mitigation enhance pro-poor growth and help the effectiveness of poor countries in reducing emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Contentious issue of distributive justice in global climate finance examined. • Dynamic panel regression on two-decades' funding data covering >130 countries used. • Vulnerability had significant effects on adaptation and overlap fundings, evidencing justice. • Vulnerability's effect however was non-linear (parabolic), raising some concerns. • Effects were persistent, dynamic; Low Funding Trap for the most vulnerable found. The 'climate justice' lens is increasingly being used in framing discussions and debates on global climate finance. A variant of such justice – distributive justice – emphasises recipient countries' vulnerability to be an important consideration in funding allocation. The extent to which this principle is pursued in practice has been of widespread and ongoing concerns. Empirical evidence in this regard however remains inadequate and methodologically weak. This research examined the effect of recipients' climate vulnerability on the allocation of climate funds by controlling for other commonly-identified determinants. A dynamic panel regression method based on Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) was used on a longitudinal dataset, containing approved funds for more than 100,000 projects covering three areas of climate action (mitigation, adaptation, and overlap) in 133 countries over two decades (2000–2018). Findings indicated a non-significant effect of recipients' vulnerability on mitigation funding, but significant positive effects on adaptation and overlap fundings. 'Most vulnerable' countries were likely to receive higher amounts of these two types of funding than the 'least vulnerable' countries. All these provided evidence of distributive justice. However, the relationship between vulnerability and funding was parabolic, suggesting 'moderately vulnerable' countries likely to receive more funding than the 'most vulnerable' countries. Whilst, for mitigation funding, this observation was not a reason for concern, for adaptation and overlap fundings this was not in complete harmony with distributive justice. Paradoxically, countries with better investment readiness were likely to receive more adaptation and overlap funds. In discordance with distributive justice, countries within the Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia regions, despite their higher climatic vulnerabilities, were likely to receive significantly less adaptation and overlap fundings. Effects of vulnerability were persistent, and past funding had significant effects on current funding. These, coupled with the impact of readiness, suggested a probable Low Funding Trap for the world's most vulnerable countries. The overarching conclusion is that, although positive changes have occurred since the 2015 Paris Agreement, considerable challenges to distributive justice remain. Significant data and methodological challenges encountered in the research and their implications are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Binding resource constraints in many low- and middle-income countries aggravate food insecurity risk in the face of climate change. To help mitigate such risk and increase food security, international development agencies have invested billions of dollars in climate-smart agriculture (CSA) programs over the past decade. However, rigorous evidence on the food security impacts of CSA aid through crop yields remains scant generally, and specifically in sub-Saharan Africa. Most studies have not explicitly linked CSA adoption and yield impacts with CSA aid interventions among smallholder farmers. Here, we respond to this knowledge gap by estimating the impact of a major CSA aid effort (the United States Agency for International Development-funded Wellness and Agriculture for Life's Advancement (WALA) project) on agricultural yields in Southern Malawi. Based on primary survey data from a sample of 808 households in the project area, we use endogenous switching regression and a control function approach to estimate CSA adoption and impacts on maize yield in 2016, controlling for potential program placement bias, selection bias in CSA adoption, and endogeneity issues. We found a 53% increase in maize yield among CSA adopters in the drought year of 2016. Results demonstrate that policies and funding streams supporting CSA in low-income, dryland contexts such as southern Malawi can have important impacts on food security by boosting crop yields in the face of increasing climate uncertainty and extreme weather shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]