'They don't need me to die': Plea from Africa for companies to fund climate resilience

African floods and drought highlight adaptation needs as Cop29 hear climate costs rising to $500 billion

Drought in Zimbabwe and southern Africa forces women and girls to travel long distances to fetch drinking water, a Cop29 campaigner said. Reuters

Businesses have been urged to see the benefits of paying for disaster preparation that keeps potential customers alive, as UN climate talks heard the cost of adjusting to life on a hotter planet is heading for more than $500 billion.

Extreme weather, such as floods and drought, mean people in southern Africa have had their crops destroyed, lost their livestock and suffered cholera outbreaks, while women and girls walk long distances to gather water, said Moreblessings Chidaushe, a WaterAid charity worker from Zimbabwe.

Defences such as flood barriers and sturdy water tanks are often seen as unprofitable compared to projects including solar panels and wind farms, meaning private investors hold back from unleashing the necessary billions.

But “private business needs us to support their business”, Ms Chidaushe told The National during the Cop29 summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, where raising finance is the key focus of negotiations. “It's a two-way street. You don’t need me to die from climate impacts.”

The task of gathering water that typically falls to women and girls means they miss out on education, and spend four to five hours a day on the long walk to provide for their families, she said. “How will I be productive?”

Zimbabwe and Zambia have endured severe droughts described as the worst in a century, leading to crop failures, while Malawi and Mozambique have been hit by heavy flooding as extreme weather events intensify around the world.

Adapting to global warming can include growing drought-resistant crops, planting trees to provide shade, and building early warning systems for extreme weather. But most climate funding goes into efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, known as mitigation in UN jargon.

Funding gap

Out of $115.9 billion directed to global climate action by developed countries in 2022, only $3.5 billion was money put into adaptation by private companies, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. UN climate chief Simon Stiell said on Monday that the world “can no longer rely on small streams of finance” for resilience.

Adaptation costs that are “skyrocketing for everyone” could rise to $340 billion a year by 2030 and $565 billion a year by 2050, Mr Stiell said. He said the funds were “the difference between safety and life-wrecking disasters for billions of people”.

He urged lenders to “think beyond” their usual offers of grants and loans to deliver funding with “massive transformational power”, not only preventing the worst effects of climate change but “driving forward much more opportunity, equality, and prosperity”.

“The people that receive this investment will not disappoint. They want to adapt,” Mr Stiell told Cop29 delegates in Baku. “Often, they know better than we do how to adapt. Because resilience is in humanity’s DNA. We need only the means.”

Negotiators working on a financial pledge potentially worth more than $1 trillion at Cop29 are considering whether to ring-fence some of the money for adaptation. One proposal would name a percentage, while others would call more generally for funding to “aim to achieve a balance”.

Ms Chidaushe said people on the front line “need to be given the space and voice to tell their story” as the talks headed for a difficult climax. She said any agreement must make it “clear how we are going to get the money”.

People in Africa are “experiencing both having too much water and too little water”, she said. “We need to put in place climate-resilient infrastructure.”