Why does France’s development bank finance climate action in other countries?

Climate action has become a priority for AFD. In 2017, it became the world’s first financial institution to commit to aligning all its activities with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

This objective, reaffirmed in France’s law of 4 August 2021 on solidarity-based development and tackling global inequality, has two main aims: reducing greenhouse gas emissions and limiting vulnerability to climate hazards, including heat waves, droughts, floods, and rising sea levels.

In 2025, AFD Group provided €7.8 billion in financing for projects with climate benefits, mainly through loans, with 42% dedicated to climate change adaptation. Some of this funding supports Overseas France, while the largest share goes to developing countries.

Here are the five main reasons why AFD finances projects to tackle climate change in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Overseas France.

1. To protect France and Europe

Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, warming at twice the global average, according to the World Meteorological Organization. Slowing this warming requires reductions in greenhouse gas emissions both within and outside Europe. These gases accumulate in the atmosphere and affect the global climate, regardless of where they come from.

This is why AFD invests wherever possible in projects that reduce emissions, including renewable energy, low-carbon transport, agroecology, forest conservation, and changes to standards. Projects financed in 2025 will avoid 54 million metric tons of CO₂-equivalent emissions and help mitigate the impacts of climate change worldwide, including in France.

AFD also draws on solutions developed in warmer climates. By supporting developing countries as they address challenges that also affect Europe and France, such as heat waves, droughts, extreme flooding, and rising sea levels, AFD learns from their experience. The innovations and lessons emerging from this work can inform the efforts of French organizations and institutions. One example is the joint French-Turkish project in Eskişehir, Türkiye, which aims to make forests more resilient to a warming climate and pests.

2. To support French businesses

Taking climate action abroad also helps protect and strengthen France’s economy. French industries depend on raw materials, water, agricultural land, and supply chains around the world. Climate disruption and ecosystem degradation make these supplies more expensive and less reliable.

AFD projects also help showcase internationally the expertise of French companies developing climate and biodiversity solutions, including mitigation, adaptation, ecological engineering, and sustainable resource management.

3. To strengthen alliances and long-term partnerships

A climate project financed by AFD supports a partner country’s development and sovereignty. This helps France build or strengthen alliances and long-term partnerships around critical issues of mutual interest, in a world that is increasingly unstable and fragmented.

It also helps France honor its commitments to other countries to finance action against climate change.

As one of the world’s leading providers of climate finance, AFD also helps France make its positions heard more effectively in international forums, particularly in climate negotiations.

4. To contribute to global stability

By addressing global risks at the scale needed, AFD’s investments help limit crises and support global stability. Projects that make developing countries more resilient to climate impacts, such as rising sea levels and extreme weather, can improve food security and water availability, strengthen energy sovereignty and economic stability, and help reduce forced migration and the drivers of conflict. In doing so, they reduce the risk of regional or international crises.

Conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine also show how dependence on fossil fuels can leave countries vulnerable, as price increases strain public finances and the daily lives of millions of people.

By supporting practical projects, such as installing a solar power plant, upgrading distribution networks, or expanding energy storage capacity, AFD helps its partners build cleaner energy systems that are less vulnerable to crises, strengthening their sovereignty and stability.

In Côte d’Ivoire, the Wasuna program illustrates this approach. Signed on 2 April 2026, it combines the rehabilitation of six hydropower facilities, the construction of two solar power plants, and the installation of batteries. The aim is to make electricity supplies more reliable and less dependent on increasingly expensive fossil fuels. Ultimately, nine million people will benefit from a more secure electricity supply.

5. To stand in solidarity with vulnerable countries

The impacts of climate change are already clearly visible in countries such as Nepal and Pakistan, which have contributed very little to global greenhouse gas emissions since the mid-19th century.

These countries do not always have the resources to invest in decarbonizing their societies or adapting to climate-related disasters and ecosystem degradation. AFD stands alongside them, using its financial tools to support both objectives in line with France’s commitment to pass on a more resilient and sustainable world to future generations.