Mobilizing climate finance for livestock transformation in the Global South: Pathways for Investment Readiness

Abstract

Livestock systems underpin the livelihoods of over one billion people across the Global South, yet the sector receives less than one per cent of global climate finance despite accounting for roughly a fifth of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. This brief examines how climate finance can drive the transformation of livestock systems towards higher productivity, greater resilience and lower emission intensity. Drawing on evidence from CGIAR and partners, it demonstrates that sustainable intensification — through improved forages, enhanced grazing management and low-emission feed and manure systems- can reduce emission intensity by up to half whilst raising yields and farm incomes. The brief maps the major climate finance mechanisms relevant to livestock, including the Green Climate Fund, the Global Environment Facility, blended finance instruments, green bonds, and voluntary carbon markets, and illustrates them through case studies from Kenya, Zambia, Nigeria, Ecuador, and Brazil. It proposes a four-stage readiness pathway: from policy alignment and piloting to investment design and long-term scaling, anchored in credible MRV systems and bankable programme design. For African member states, the brief concludes that the convergence of governance, data and finance can reposition livestock from a perceived climate liability to a strategic driver of low-carbon, climate-resilient development.