The Advisory Group on Climate Finance (AGF) was set up to identify an additional US$100 billion per year in climate finance from developed countries, to support climate change adaptation and mitigation actionsin developing countries. The recent AGF report (Report of the Secretary-General's High-level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing) concluded that finding the extra money was “challenging but feasible”. However, turning the report’s recommendations into tangible flows of new finance will require political leadership at a senior level. This report aims to alert senior policy-makers to the importance of the AGF’s recommendations, and the opportunities (and challenges) they create for Africa.Key messages:

The AGF report presents many opportunities for climate compatible development in Africa – development that mininises the harm caused by climate impacts while maximising the human development opportunities presented by a low emissions, more resilient future

Africa must ensure it receives a sufficient proportion of public money for climate finance, and that it is able to make good use of it

The AGF report emphasises the need to raise revenues in a way that provides incentives for developed countries to reduce emissions. This is welcome, but introduces risks concerning the reliability of these revenues. These concerns can be relieved by robust, credible commitments by developed countries to reduce emissions

Africa should participate fully in discussions to ensure that any negative impacts from raising revenue are compensated. However, it seems likely that these impacts will be small.

Regulatory reforms that facilitate private-sector investment are crucial to Africa’s development