Uganda Needs $78.1 Billion for Climate Commitments, 85% Expected From External Sources

Uganda says it will need $78.1 billion, roughly Shs320.6 trillion, over the next eight years to deliver on its climate commitments. The Ministry of Water and Environment expects 85% of that money to come from outside the country. The figure was set out at the launch of the Uganda Climate Investment Platform, a government-led effort to coordinate climate financing.

Margaret Athieno Mwebesa, the Country Platform Coordinator for Climate Action Uganda, broke the total down. Adaptation, the work of coping with changes already under way, needs about $17.7 billion (around Shs72.7 trillion). Mitigation, meaning measures to cut greenhouse gas emissions, needs another $10.4 billion (about Shs42.7 trillion). She said Uganda must mobilise at least $5 billion a year (about Shs20.5 trillion), and that current funding sits below that mark. "Uganda is an adaptation country," she said. "Climate change is already with us here. We need to adapt."

The numbers she presented show how wide the gap is. Uganda mobilised $447.4 million (about Shs1.84 trillion) in 2021 and $483.9 million (about Shs1.99 trillion) in 2022. In 2023 the figure fell to $272.6 million (about Shs1.12 trillion). Climate financing for the 2024/25 financial year was estimated at about $500 million (around Shs2.05 trillion), a tenth of the annual target. Only 15% of the country's climate financing needs is expected to be met from domestic resources, which leaves Uganda heavily reliant on international climate finance.

Minister of Water and Environment Kahinda Otafiire framed the stakes in terms of the economy and of people's livelihoods. Climate change, he said, could undermine the country's development aspirations unless government and its partners invest deliberately in climate-resilient programmes. "Without deliberate action, it risks constraining economic growth and widening agricultural productivity, and increasing the vulnerability of our communities, particularly the poor and those in fragile ecosystems," he said. He added that climate change is also adding pressure on water resources, wetlands, forests and infrastructure, which makes investment in adaptation and mitigation more urgent.

Mwebesa said Uganda does not lack policy. Its priorities are already set out in the Nationally Determined Contributions, the National Adaptation Plan, the National Climate Finance Strategy, the Fourth National Development Plan and the Tenfold Growth Strategy. What is missing, she said, is a pipeline of projects that investors will fund. "We now need to turn these into real bankable programmes that will attract sizable financing," she said.

The platform is meant to supply that. It is expected to improve coordination among government institutions, address barriers to accessing climate finance, speed up the disbursement of resources that are available, and draw in more private sector participation. The Ministry of Water and Environment, the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, and the National Planning Authority will drive it jointly. Mwebesa said it will not create parallel government structures. It will strengthen existing institutions and give them a common framework for setting climate investment priorities.

Initially the platform will focus on four sectors. Under nature, investment will go to forests, wetlands, land management and biodiversity conservation. In energy, it will back renewable energy development and the shift to cleaner sources. Agriculture investments will target climate-resilient food systems and agro-processing, while tourism work will centre on sustainable ecotourism and green infrastructure.

Otafiire said these investments also give Uganda a chance to pursue green economic growth through sustainable agriculture, clean energy and nature-based solutions. He said the platform will bring together government agencies, financial institutions, investors, development partners and civil society around shared national priorities rather than duplicating existing programmes. The test will be whether bankable projects emerge from it and whether annual mobilisation moves from the hundreds of millions toward the $5 billion Uganda says it needs.