Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Dr Emomotimi Agama, has called on African capital markets to take a central role in addressing the significant financing gap for climate adaptation across the continent.

Speaking at the African Development Bank (AfDB) meeting on the role of capital markets in closing this gap, Agama underscored the urgency of mobilising financial resources to bridge the financing gap for climate adaptation.

He emphasised the importance of project developers and private sector actors presenting bankable, pipeline-ready initiatives with strong environmental and social metrics to attract investment.

Agama stated that African capital markets must move towards integration, standard alignment, and the adoption of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) framework. He described the financing gap not as a distant aspiration but as a development imperative and one requiring ingenuity and collaboration across the continent.

According to him, leveraging institutional capital and aligning regional financial markets will be key to building climate resilience. The AfDB’s 2022 Africa Economic Outlook reported that approximately $500 billion will be needed for climate finance by the same year, and over $3 trillion must be invested in mitigation and adaptation to fulfil nationally determined contributions.

Agama pointed out that these staggering figures were not abstract as they reflect real-life consequences such as lost livelihoods in the Sahel, declining fish populations in the Gulf of Guinea, and intensified flooding in cities like Lagos and Nairobi.

The disparity between Africa’s minimal emissions and its vulnerability to climate change, he said, underscored the urgency of the situation. With climate change manifesting as severe droughts, coastal erosion, and more intense storms, the consequences are becoming increasingly destructive.