As a new year begins, Africa stands at a defining climate crossroads.
Across the continent, climate impacts are no longer abstract forecasts. They are lived realities. Prolonged droughts in the Horn of Africa have reshaped food systems and migration patterns. Devastating floods in East and Southern Africa have strained public health systems and urban infrastructure. Rising temperatures are intensifying heat stress, reducing labour productivity, and accelerating the spread of climate-sensitive diseases.
These challenges are not evenly distributed. They fall hardest on communities with the least access to safety nets, data, and decision-making power. Climate change in Africa is not only an environmental issue. It is a development issue, a health issue, and increasingly, a data justice issue.
Yet alongside these risks, something important is happening.
Across Africa, innovators, researchers, and communities are building climate solutions that are locally grounded, technologically sophisticated, and increasingly powered by AI.
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🌱 Climate Innovation Already Underway
In agriculture, AI-driven early warning systems are helping farmers anticipate droughts and pests, reducing crop losses before they occur. In Kenya and Rwanda, machine-learning models trained on local weather and soil data are improving seasonal planning for smallholder farmers.
In public health, climate-linked disease surveillance systems are being used to predict malaria outbreaks and heat-related illnesses, allowing health systems to respond earlier and more effectively.
In energy and cities, AI is supporting the expansion of mini-grids, optimizing energy use in informal settlements, and improving flood risk mapping where official data has long been incomplete.
Importantly, many of these tools are being built in Africa, by people who understand the context, constraints, and lived realities of climate risk on the continent.
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⚖️ Where the Gaps Remain
Despite this progress, serious challenges persist.
Much of Africa’s climate data remains fragmented, under-resourced, or controlled by external actors. Many AI models used in climate planning still rely on incomplete datasets that overlook informal settlements, rural communities, and Indigenous knowledge systems.
There is also a growing risk that AI becomes another layer of exclusion—automating decisions about climate finance, insurance, and adaptation without transparency or accountability.
Innovation alone is not enough. How these systems are governed, who owns the data, and who benefits from their outputs will determine whether AI reduces climate vulnerability or quietly reinforces inequality.
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đź”® What the New Year Holds
Looking ahead, several shifts will shape the climate–AI landscape in Africa this year:
These are not silver bullets. But together, they signal a move away from extractive climate tech toward more accountable, human-centred systems.
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🌍 A Hope Rooted in Agency
Hope for Africa’s climate future does not lie in waiting for perfect technologies or external rescue. It lies in recognising what is already happening: African scientists, builders, and communities are reimagining how climate data, AI, and innovation can serve people first.
This year, the question is not whether Africa will adapt. It is whether the systems being built will reflect African realities, priorities, and visions of justice.
At The Climate Tech Lens, we will continue to examine this question—critically, constructively, and with optimism grounded in evidence.
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đźź© The Climate Tech Lens
Reimagining AI, climate, and data from the Global South outward.