Nairobi, July 15 -- There is a familiar pattern to conversations about climate adaptation in Africa. They usually begin with the billions of dollars needed to help the continent respond to increasingly frequent droughts, floods and other climate-related shocks. Before long, attention shifts to the widening financing gap and the urgent need for more public and private investment.

These are necessary discussions. Yet after participating in the Adaptation Investment Summit for Africa (AISA) 2026, I found myself asking a different question: What exactly are we asking capital to invest in?

For years, climate adaptation has largely been framed as a financing challenge. But investors rarely allocate capital simply because a problem is urgent....