Mogadishu, Somalia — In a pivotal move to elevate Somalia’s climate resilience, the Minister of Finance Bihi Egeh delivered a compelling keynote at the National Inception Workshop, marking the launch of the Somali Climate Finance Trials. This landmark initiative underscores the government’s determination to expand access to international climate finance and channel those resources toward mitigation and adaptation across vulnerable communities.

In his address, Egeh emphasized that “strengthening Somalia’s access to climate finance remains a strategic priority,” highlighting the Trials as a critical mechanism to streamline funding and scale up climate-smart interventions across sectors such as agriculture, water security, infrastructure, and sustainable energy.

Somalia’s investment landscape in climate readiness has seen notable developments. In March 2024, the Green Climate Fund committed $100 million to support Somalia’s climate action efforts—a short-term, targeted injection into priority programs. Earlier, in mid-2024, Somalia appealed directly to international partners during the World Bank’s Somalia Economic Update, reiterating its dedication to macroeconomic stability while calling for enhanced climate financing. Furthermore, the nation secured an $18 million climate risk financing agreement with the African Development Bank in May 2024, bolstering its disaster preparedness. These prior successes provide an encouraging backdrop—demonstrating Somalia’s capacity to engage partners effectively—which now form a foundation for the Climate Finance Trials.

The Trials are expected to test innovative financing models designed to address bottlenecks in funding flows. The overarching goals include enhancing the transparency and predictability of climate finance, facilitating access to both concessional loans and grants for climate projects, and piloting localized climate-resilient interventions with rigorous monitoring and evaluation. This initiative also aligns with broader trends in Somalia’s financial evolution, including a recent collaboration with UNDP to embed risk-informed and gender-responsive approaches into peace and resilience financing strategies.

For Somalia, grappling with prolonged droughts, flooding, and environmental shocks, scaling climate finance is vital. The lessons learned from the Trials will likely shape future initiatives and could influence financial planning under frameworks like the upcoming National Development Plan (NDP-10), the Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF), and other strategic instruments linking climate priorities with development targets.