Between lost revenue, agricultural damage, and pressure on social services, climate impacts are already weighing on Cameroon’s budget. The government now wants to develop a strategy capable of mobilizing green financing to support adaptation.
At the seminar launching the 2026 budget preparation activities, held in July 2025 at the Yaoundé Conference Center, the Minister of Finance described a budgetary context marked by a rapid increase in climate risks. According to him, these factors are already impacting public revenues and increasing current expenditures.
This situation places climate resilience at the heart of the government’s financial decisions. The minister has been pointing out for several years that climate hazards disrupt the foundations of productive activity. He cites visible effects: decreased agricultural yields, difficulties in fishing and livestock farming, an increase in waterborne diseases, and heightened pressures on the healthcare system.
In 2023 and 2024, floods and landslides affected hundreds of thousands of people, causing loss of life and property damage, and representing an “increasingly heavy burden of expenditure,” the Ministry of Finance stated. It continued, “a growing risk of revenue losses.”
Yet, Cameroon emits little greenhouse gas—barely 0.07% of global emissions in 2020—but is among the thirty countries most exposed to climate risks. This contradiction strengthens the national argument in favor of international financial compensation.
In Belém, Brazil, COP30, which opened on November 10, 2025, takes place amid high expectations for vulnerable countries. For Cameroon, this event represents an opportunity to highlight its adaptation needs, as Africa, despite accounting for less than 4% of global emissions, suffers up to 5% of annual GDP losses due to climate shocks.
This positioning, according to the ministry, should allow the country to more firmly engage with climate finance mechanisms, a set of financial instruments—grants, concessional loans, adaptation or mitigation funds—designed to support countries facing the impacts of climate change. A first step was taken in 2025 with the introduction of a climate-sensitive budget annex into the budget law.
This annex aims to classify public spending according to its contribution to combating climate change. Of the nine pilot administrations involved, 17% of spending was considered climate-friendly; however, 82% remains “undetermined” due to a lack of reliable data and a consolidated methodological framework. This imbalance highlights the challenges to be addressed: impact assessments with insufficient focus on climate issues, inadequate institutional coordination, and administrative inertia in project design.
