Finance Minister Henry Ariganyira Musasizi has called for stronger preparation of climate projects in East Africa, saying clear investment pipelines are critical to unlocking financing for climate action and economic transformation.
Minister Musasizi said weak project preparation remains one of the major constraints preventing promising climate initiatives from attracting financing, urging countries to develop projects with clear financing needs, risk assessments and implementation plans.
He made the remarks on Tuesday while opening the eighth East African Region Climate Finance Directors Level Meeting at Lake Victoria Serena Hotel, Kigo, under the theme: “From Commitments to Investment: Scaling Bankable Climate Finance for NDC 3.0 Implementation in East Africa.”
“Too many promising ideas reach financing discussions before feasibility work, safeguards, land arrangements, revenue assumptions and implementation responsibilities are clear,” Mr Musasizi said.
He said East African countries should move beyond climate finance pledges and focus on converting commitments into investments that deliver tangible benefits to citizens.
“A commitment is valuable only when it translates to resources reaching the communities that need them,” he said.
Minister Musasizi said climate finance should be considered part of the investment foundation for Uganda’s Tenfold Growth Strategy, which seeks to expand the economy to about $500 billion by 2040.
He said Uganda’s priority growth areas, including agro-industrialisation, tourism, mineral development, and science, technology and innovation, depend on reliable energy, resilient infrastructure, healthy ecosystems, productive land and a workforce protected from climate shocks.
“Climate action is therefore part of the investment foundation for sustained economic transformation,” he said.
The minister also called for stronger regional cooperation through the East African Community to mobilise climate finance for cross-border programmes, particularly in clean energy and grid interconnection, resilient transport, shared water basins, climate-smart agriculture and early warning systems.
He said pooling demand, sharing technical preparation costs and aggregating similar investments across Partner States could create projects large enough to attract private and public capital.
Uganda has strengthened its climate finance framework through the National Climate Finance Strategy and the National Green Taxonomy, which Mr Musasizi said should now be translated into actual project selection, budgeting, financing and reporting.
He also called for improved tracking of climate finance by distinguishing pledges from approvals, approvals from disbursements, and disbursements from results on the ground.
Minister Musasizi proposed a regional scorecard that would enable East African countries to identify financing bottlenecks and assess whether climate resources are reaching adaptation programmes, local governments and vulnerable communities.
