The biggest source of external financial support in the Global South isn’t foreign governments. It isn’t multilateral assistance. It isn’t commercial lenders.
It’s money from the diaspora.
More than $900 billion is transacted annually from diaspora communities to friends, families and businesses living in other countries. Governments and local communities are waking up to the opportunity of leveraging those capital sources to back climate mitigation and resilience finance.
Channeling diasporic capital effectively requires financial institutions and regulatory environments that smooth border and currency divides, and channel remittances in an organized, systematic way. Zimbabwe, Senegal and Kenya are each experimenting with different ways to do that, and highlighting solutions for engaging the diaspora community around local climate finance needs.
In each case, asset managers, banks, credit unions or fintech providers are stepping in to improve the transfer process and center diaspora preferences.
Models from Africa
Africa received over $95 billion in remittances from the diaspora in 2024. The wealth of the Pan-African and Afro-descendent diaspora in the US alone is estimated at $6.3 trillion.
Zimbabwe’s diaspora of roughly five million people sends billions of dollars each year back into the Zimbabwean economy. Many financial institutions, including the credit unions or SACCOs, struggled to remain solvent after the hyperinflation period that peaked in 2007-2009.
This year, Zimbabwe’s Diaspora Credit Union is relaunching to enable the diaspora to more easily invest in the country. And one of the top loan products the credit union offers supports clean energy access and resilience: solar loans. Solar energy has gained traction in the country to counter unreliable electricity and high fuel prices. A solar loan product, made possible by the credit unions depositors and account holders, would help households and small businesses.
In Kenya, savings and credit cooperative organizations, or SACCOs, are beginning to launch climate-focused savings products where the members can earn interest while backing climate action in the country. K-Unity, KUDS, Stima Unaitas, and Qona have all launched climate savings products, supported by their combined $19.4 million in diaspora deposits.
The opportunity for such climate savings products is at least $300 million across the more than 170 SACCOs in Kenya and their combined $9 billion in assets. One source of deposits is the more than three million people in Kenya’s diaspora.
In 2025, Senegal’s government issued a “diaspora bond” – available to both the overseas diaspora and for domestic participation – to support reducing the debt-to-GDP ratio. The bond attracted 450 billion West African francs, or XOF (then more than $780 million) – over 100 billion francs more than the goal. The example pointed to future opportunities to raise capital from the overseas community for national needs and interests. La Banque Agricole in Senegal has specific savings products, such as Yakaar Diaspora, tailored to the diaspora.
Macro policies are also reinforcing diasporic investment. The Central Bank of West African States, commonly known as BCEAO, in March 2026 made it possible for diaspora members to open local bank accounts in local currency, granting them the same treatment as local residents.
While none of these West African examples have yet intentionally channeled diaspora capital to climate causes, the infrastructure is being established that could make that possible.
Diaspora mega-centers
The two most populous countries in the world, India and China, have long-established approaches to leveraging their diasporas for economic development.
India’s diaspora of more than 35 million people accounts for most global remittances, standing at roughly $135 billion in fiscal year 2024-2025. India is one of the poster examples of diaspora bond issuances, including the India Development Bonds of 1991, the Resurgent India Bonds in 1998, and the India Millennium Deposits in 2000.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs hosts a division dedicated to “Persons of Indian Origin” and “Non-Resident Indians” to maintain ties to the overseas community.
China’s diaspora of an estimated 56 million people has helped lift 800 million people on the mainland out of poverty in the past 40 years. Between 1979 and 2022, overseas Chinese invested $1.9 trillion back home, representing over 67% of China’s total foreign direct investment.
There are also well known examples of how the diaspora has supported China’s business growth, including bringing KFC onto the mainland and driving export-oriented, transnational networks for “Made in China” goods.
In most parts of the Global South, annual remittances are largely informal and organized person to person. Some governments are working to strengthen ties: Jamaica has a Diaspora Affairs Department within its Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade. The African Union formally names the African diaspora as its sixth region, hosting a Diaspora Division within the bloc.
Some are going further to build awareness between the diaspora and climate action. Indiaspora, a US-based network of high net worth Indian-origin leaders, has convened annual Climate Summits since 2021 and held a dedicated Climate Action Forum at COP28 in 2023.
As annual global remittances inch towards the $1 trillion mark, diasporas are an important pool of untapped capital for increasing sustainable investments across growth markets.
It’s a fitting opportunity: the word diaspora is derived from the Greek words sperein, which means “to sow”, and dia, which means “to move through”. Diasporic communities are already providing the seeds to grow economies across the globe. This overlooked channel of private capital is just waiting to seed climate action as well.
