How the Comoros is taking climate action from promise to progress
Like most small island nations, the Comoros faces complex challenges that impede its sustainable development. The volcanic archipelago has limited natural resources to harness and its location in the tropical southwest Indian Ocean leaves it exposed to powerful storms. The country’s economy — which heavily relies on agriculture and exports of a few key crops — remains fragile, limiting opportunities for citizens to escape severe hardship. The most recent data available suggests that 19 percent of the population in the Comoros is multidimensionally poor while an additional 19 percent is vulnerable to multidimensional poverty.
Climate change is adding to these challenges, as extreme weather events become more frequent and more severe. In a country where most of the population depends on agriculture, fishing and natural resources, climate shocks have an immediate impact on livelihoods. Prolonged droughts, extreme rainfall, floods and sea level rise can cause failed harvests and loss of productive land, degrade marine and terrestrial ecosystems whose resources many depend on, and damage the infrastructure that keeps the economy functional.
Moreover, stronger storms are causing increasing levels of loss and damage. In the last decade alone, the country has been hit by two devastating cyclones — Cyclone Kenneth in 2019 and Cyclone Chido in 2024 — which have damaged infrastructure, destroyed crops and caused injuries and loss of life, with serious impacts on the economy. Cyclone Kenneth alone has affected more than 345,000 people, or 40 percent of the population, and caused damages worth 14 percent of the country’s GDP.
Despite the challenges it faces and the limited resources at its disposal, the Government of the Union of the Comoros is working to protect hard-earned development gains and chart a course to a low-carbon, climate-resilient future.
Building the climate policy architecture
In response to the escalating climate crisis, the Comoros has been adopting new policies and strategies meant to prepare it for a more unpredictable future. In March 2026, the country submitted its revised Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Built on a solid analytical foundation that was developed over the years, the NDC proved that, despite its negligible historical greenhouse gas emissions, the country is committed to a deep decarbonization of its economy. As such, the NDC sets an overall goal of reducing emissions by at least 14 percent by 2035, using the national budget, and up to 57 percent, depending on the amount of international financial and technical support received. The Comoros plans to achieve this through expanded targets and measures in five major sectors: energy, agriculture, forestry and land use, waste and industrial processes. It also aims to become a carbon sink for the world, targeting a sequestration capacity of 1,437 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2035.
The Comoros has also prioritized adaptation in the new NDC, identifying five essential areas of action for increasing resilience, from forests and coastal zones to water, infrastructure and health. The country plans to restore 6,000 hectares of watersheds and build 50 micro-dams and reservoirs to ensure that the population has sustainable access to drinking water. It also looks to reforest 8,000 hectares of land and restore 1,000 hectares of mangroves and 600 hectares of corals to increase the sustainable management of land and marine ecosystems while also protecting biodiversity. Other planned adaptation measures aim to strengthen the resilience of buildings against climate shocks, increase the capacity of the health system to manage emerging public health concerns, and offer additional protections to the most at-risk populations.
In line with this, the NDC also incorporates, for the first time, a social inclusion dimension, with a focus on women, youth and vulnerable groups. This improvement is a result of a participatory consultative process that helped anchor the NDC in the realities and priorities experienced by the people living on the islands.
Under Climate Promise 2025, the UN System supported the Government of the Union of the Comoros in shaping and developing the NDC, offering expertise on key issues such as mitigation, adaptation, just transition and health, among others. UNDP led the coordination effort and provided technical and financial support, while also helping to organize consultations with key stakeholders and groups. This collaboration helped ensure that the NDC was designed from the outset as a strategic tool for mobilizing resources and partnerships.
Given that the full implementation of the NDC is estimated to require about US$6.6 billion by 2030, UNDP is now supporting the Comoros in accessing new sources of climate finance. To support the country’s energy transition, UNDP and partners helped mobilize $44 million for the initial phase of building a geothermal power plant. In parallel, UNDP has intensified its engagement with vertical funds, contributing to the mobilization of nearly $20 million in 2025 and the expansion of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) pipeline to $69 million. The Comoros is also exploring its potential participation in international carbon markets, under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. In this sense, the forestry and mangrove sectors could be major assets for the development of carbon credits and projects under the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) framework.
The quality and richness of the NDC shows that a Small Island Developing State (SIDS) like the Comoros can raise climate ambition in a credible, inclusive and strategic way. The coming months and years will be decisive in transforming these plans into bankable projects and concrete benefits for the population.
Helping communities adapt to climate change impacts
One key priority area of investment for the Comoros is climate change adaptation. The geological and geographical features of the country’s islands contribute significantly to its high vulnerability to climate change. The largest island, Grande Comore, is less than 1,200 square kilometres and has no permanent rivers, leaving it highly dependent on limited groundwater resources and rainfall harvesting. On the smaller islands, Anjouan and Mohéli, there are no aquifers and rivers that were once permanent are turning ephemeral, with some disappearing entirely.
This leaves the country highly vulnerable to rainfall variability and intensity, which can result in either droughts and reduced groundwater recharge or flash floods that cause erosion and saltwater intrusion. As such, one of the most urgent needs in the Comoros is to increase the resilience of its water supply to the impacts of climate change. This aligns with the country’s goal to provide the entire population with reliable, climate-resilient water supplies by 2030.
As part of this process, with support from UNDP and funding from GCF, the Comoros created a new Energy and Water Regulatory Agency tasked with improving the sustainable management of water resources by planning, monitoring and regulating the sector. The country also adopted a new regulatory framework for water governance to respond to emerging challenges posed by climate change impacts and ensure a more equitable and gender-responsive allocation of water resources. UNDP has also helped 27 national, regional and local institutions and civil society organizations to identify and adopt adaptation solutions that increase the resilience of water systems, while training members of community water management committees to better plan, maintain and service hydraulic infrastructure.
In parallel, with funding from the GCF, UNDP has been commissioning climate-resilient hydraulic infrastructure — including boreholes, water treatment plants, reservoirs and distribution networks — in more than 50 localities across the islands. This new infrastructure was developed with strong community engagement and has helped strengthen climate-resilient water supply for more than 230,000 people. Many in the local communities have taken on roles to ensure the long-term maintenance and upkeep of this crucial infrastructure, on which local agriculture also depends.
Increasing the climate resilience of the agricultural sector is another key priority for the Comoros. Reducing climate risk in agriculture helps ensure food security by increasing access to better quality, locally produced food and protects revenues from key export commodities such as vanilla, ylang-ylang and cloves. With funding from the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF), managed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), UNDP is supporting the country to protect agricultural value chains vulnerable to climate change impacts by investing in climate-smart agricultural practices and improved access to knowledge and training. These improvements are helping safeguard the livelihoods of many Comorian smallholders and, by the end of the project, are expected to increase the resilience of over 11 percent of the country’s population.
With funding from the GEF, UNDP is also helping eight Rural Centres for Economic Development across the Comoros to improve the climate resilience of local agricultural production by adopting climate-resilient varieties for key crops like bananas and strengthening the local production of high-quality seedlings. In parallel, farmers are receiving training on how to increase both yields and the climate resilience of their production systems through agroecological practices such as sustainable soil management, composting and the optimization of water use. Interventions such as these contribute to the structural transformation of the agricultural system on the islands by combining food security, rural development, climate adaptation and community governance.
Reducing risks also depends on climate information and early warning systems. With funding from GCF, UNDP has supported the Technical Directorate of Meteorology (DTM) to strengthen its capacities for acquiring, processing and managing reliable climate and hydrological data. The modernization of the hydrometeorological network is helping authorities to anticipate extreme weather events and make informed decisions pertaining to disaster risk management, agricultural adaptation and land-use planning. It is also crucial for identifying and monitoring the vectors of climate-sensitive diseases such as malaria or cholera. In this context, with funding from GCF, UNDP has helped establish a national water quality control laboratory at the University of the Comoros, consolidating national capacities for monitoring and preventing water-related health risks.
Reducing risks from climate hazards
Despite recent advancements, the Comoros remains vulnerable to climate hazards due to its limited governance, inadequate infrastructure and accelerated degradation of natural ecosystems.
Digital tools that integrate geolocation and emergency communications are a critical part of disaster risk management, enhancing coordination between alert centres and teams in the field. They support authorities to improve their risk knowledge and make decisions about which interventions to prioritize. This was evident during Cyclone Chido in December 2024, when national institutions were severely tested by widespread damage. With funding from the GEF, UNDP provided immediate support to the emergency response by supporting the deployment of a data collection tool which facilitated the real-time transmission of field data. By providing a rapid needs assessment on the ground, the tool enabled a reactive and effective planning of humanitarian interventions.
UNDP and the GEF have also helped the Central Bank of the Comoros strengthen the legal and regulatory framework of the insurance sector, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and the General Directorate of Civil Security. This laid the foundation for the launch of the Insurance and Risk Finance Facility in the Comoros, whose aim is to develop innovative insurance products, adapted to local realities and the country's main economic sectors, and that increase protections to the most vulnerable groups.
Furthermore, in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and funding from the GEF, UNDP supported the country to update the National Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction 2024-2030, which now constitutes a national roadmap. This document played a catalytic role in mobilizing external financing, from institutions like the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB) for measures related to preparedness, prevention and rapid response.
These interventions, which combine institutional reforms, capacity-building, technological solutions and innovative financial mechanisms, help the Comoros strengthen its risk governance in a systemic and inclusive way.
Investing in the sustainable energy transition
Like many SIDS, the Comoros is heavily dependent on fossil fuel imports for its energy needs, including for electricity production through diesel generators. While electricity access has increased from 46 percent in 2017 to 71 percent in 2025, partially through a rise in renewable energy generation, the extensive use of fossil fuels means that 60 percent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions come from the energy sector. A sustainable energy transition is therefore at the heart of the island nation’s climate change mitigation strategy and its long-term development.
To create the necessary conditions for investments in renewable energy, in 2023, the Comoros adopted a new Electricity Code which strengthens the national legal framework for the sustainable energy transition. To support the application of the new code, specific decrees for solar minigrids, wind turbines and geothermal and hydroelectrical power plants have been developed and are currently being validated by the government.
A key outcome of Comoros energy transition is that it can achieve energy sovereignty and security. To support these ends, a vital intervention funded by the GEF focused on harnessing the country’s geothermal resources. An exploratory mapping, using high-precision geoscience equipment, identified potential favourable conditions for exploiting high-temperature geothermal energy at the Karthala volcano for power generation.A key intervention funded by the GEF has focused on harnessing the country’s geothermal resources. An exploratory mapping, using high-precision geoscience equipment, identified potential favourable conditions for exploiting high-temperature geothermal energy at the Karthala volcano for power generation.
Taking this opportunity forward, the country raised resources from the African Development Bank, the GEF and, potentially, the African Union, for the development of a 15 MW geothermal power plant. The project is currently in the exploration and development phase.
Through the Platform for Investment Support and Technical Assistance (PISTA), funded by the Government of Italy, UNDP is providing additional technical and institutional support to make the geothermal power plant bankable and attractive to investors. One aspect of this work is helping to further de-risk the project through additional studies and analyses and by strengthening the capacities of the Geological Bureau, the national institution responsible for geothermal resources. Importantly, PISTA is helping connect the project with potential investors and development finance institutions for the post-exploration phase.
UNDP is also supporting the expansion of distributed renewable energy solutions on the islands. Through the Africa Minigrids Program (AMP), funded by the GEF, UNDP identified and is testing three models of distributed solar power generation: a multifunctional solar platform with battery storage on Grande Comore, a standard minigrid in Anjouan, and an isolated minigrid, interconnectable to the national grid, in Mohéli. Despite using different technological approaches adapted to island specificities, all three models integrate inclusive governance mechanisms that ensure women and young people can participate in and benefit from the expansion of renewable energy. In addition, the AMP supported a decree establishing regulations for renewable energy self-production and is helping to introduce tariff mechanisms, capital expenditure subsidies and derisking strategies for the private sector that will further incentivize the adoption of solar power in the country.
What climate action means for the Comoros’s future
As a small island nation, the Comoros is on the frontlines of climate change impacts. Taking ambitious climate action is therefore a matter of survival as much as it is a path forward to a low-carbon, climate-resilient future.
The country’s NDC is a plan to drive the country’s economic prosperity, creating jobs, enhancing stability and protecting people and ecosystems. However, its hefty price tag remains an obstacle in a country that is still striving to lift all its people out of poverty. The Comoros needs partners that will continue to support its vision to build resilient communities, powered by renewable energy and digitalization, that can protect themselves against the hazards awaiting in the future.
The country’s efforts to advance this vision underscore that climate action is an opportunity to invest in a future where low-carbon economies and societies can flourish, while protecting their citizens from climate change impacts.