The overall index score captures the achievements of African countries across three key dimensions of resilience: economy, policy, and finance. For each dimension, several indicators and sub-indicators were developed to assess the progress of countries across them (See Methodological Note below).

The ratio between the points obtained in each indicator and the maximum possible points served as the basis to establish in which category a country lies.

Countries were assessed using a normal distribution that determines their placement within five performance categories—Pioneering, Robust, Consolidating, Emerging, and Foundational Resilience—reflecting different stages of progress in mainstreaming adaptation. Further granularity is shown by the light and bright shades representing Tier 1/ Tier 2 within each category.

The categories are:

• Pioneering: Countries demonstrating exemplary progress in mainstreaming adaptation within a given category.
• Robust: Countries that have made commendable strides and are firmly on the path toward
  resilience.
• Consolidating: Countries showing clear evidence of strengthening adaptation efforts.
• Emerging: Countries are advancing adaptation mainstreaming, but with gaps remaining.
• Foundational: Countries are at the early stages of establishing the building blocks for
  resilience.

*Note: No category represents full achievement; even pioneering countries face gaps that
require continued action.

Overall

Overall

• Policy progress outpaces finance, widening the ambition–action gap. Forty countries score at least 50% on the policy pillar, yet only 14 reach that threshold on finance—leaving strong plans underfunded. High debt burdens constrain fiscal space even for top policy performers.
• Robust policy frameworks catalyze finance—especially where ODA is limited. Countries with strong, well-articulated adaptation plans tend to perform better on financial mobilization indicators when controlling for ODA, with plan coverage the strongest predictor of funding outcomes.
• Disaster experience correlates with stronger preparedness. Countries facing frequent climate disasters over the past 25 years tend to show stronger leadership in adaptation policy and finance, as repeated shocks build urgency, political will, and institutional capacity.
• Higher exposure, relative stronger preparedness at lower incomes.  Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and low-income countries face high economic risks yet demonstrate stronger policies and financing for adaptation than other income groups

Economy

• Resilient growth is achievable, but exposure threatens prosperity. Gross Resilience Product (GRP) analysis shows that the majority – 31 – African economies face substantial losses at or in excess of 10% of GDP between now and 2050. At the same time, around 90% of all economic activity of African economies is already positioned as resilient to climate risks.
• Africa’s infrastructure boom must be climate-smart. Thirty-two countries have over 10% loss exposure of physical assets, with upper-middle and high-income countries faring worse on resilience indicators—partly due to higher infrastructure density.
• Optimize trade for reduced climate risks. Country-specific risks in food, water, and energy trade mean over-reliance on climate-affected imports can transmit external shocks. An optimal window of trade should be targeted.

Policy

• Mainstream adaptation across development planning — move from intent to implementation. Integrating actionable climate adaptation priorities into national and subnational development and sectoral plans is crucial for translating international commitments into concrete actions that cut across levels of government and sectors.
• Inclusiveness is a core strength of Africa’s adaptation policy. The Index shows inclusiveness as the highest-scoring thematic cluster: many countries systematically engage NGOs, vulnerable groups, and local actors in plan design and embed actions that directly target these communities.
• Encouraging signal for more robust climate data despite existing gaps. Robust national systems—linked to regional networks—are essential for evidence-based adaptation. Over half of African countries acknowledge shortfalls in infrastructure, capacity, and regional integration and have outlined steps to address them.
• Move from aspirations to bankable, time-bound delivery. There is a pressing need to move from broad adaptation goals to actionable objectives. While African climate, development, and sectoral plans perform on average strongly in setting overarching goals, they fall short in translating these ambitions into concrete measures.

Finance

• Financial mobilization must scale dramatically. To meet Africa’s adaptation needs, every country would have to mobilize finance at the pace of the continent’s top performer (1.45 billion USD/year). At current trends, only ~25–33% of the minimum funding need will be met by 2030.
• Build resilience without hitting a debt wall. Over-reliance on borrowing is eroding fiscal space—62% of adaptation finance in the Index is debt—including in countries already in distress, with even “moderate risk” nations vulnerable if they lean heavily on loans.
• Private capital is largely untapped for adaptation. While the analysis identified differences in the ability to attract private finance, the most striking element that emerged is that private contributions to adaptation finance are critically stagnant, with an average of just 3.7% of private sector financing for adaptation projects.