Climate Resilience Principles

The Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) has introduced the Climate Resilience Principles to integrate climate adaptation and resilience into the Climate Bonds Standard. The framework distinguishes between asset-focused investments (ensuring an asset's performance over its lifespan) and system-focused investments (delivering broader systemic benefits). It requires issuers to conduct physical climate risk assessments—covering hazards, exposure, and vulnerability—and demonstrate that investments are 'fit-for-purpose' and do not cause maladaptation. The Principles also address the potential for 'mitigation trade-offs,' where emissions requirements might be relaxed for projects providing exceptional resilience benefits. These Principles will be used by Technical Working Groups to create sector-specific certification criteria.

• The framework identifies two primary categories of resilience investments: asset-focused, which aim to ensure an asset is "fit-for-purpose over its design lifespan", and system-focused, which are "explicitly intended to deliver climate resilience benefits to the broader system".
• Climate change risk is defined as a combination of three dimensions: the climate change hazard (shocks or stresses), climate change exposure (geographical and sectoral position), and climate change vulnerability (sensitivity to losses).
• To be eligible for certification, assets must be 'fit-for-purpose' and 'do no significant harm' to climate resilience, meaning they must not increase GHG emissions, increase exposure/vulnerability, reduce incentives to adapt, or create path dependency.
• The Principles require the use of multiple climate scenarios for risk assessments, specifically mandating RCP 8.5 at a minimum and RCP 4.5 if available.
• The framework proposes a qualitative approach to 'mitigation trade-offs,' where climate mitigation requirements may be lowered for assets whose resilience benefits "considerably outweigh associated emissions" or are critical for protecting communities in high-risk regions.
• Issuers are required to implement ongoing monitoring and evaluation of climate risks and benefits, with a mandate to "annually verify this ongoing monitoring and evaluation" to the Climate Bonds Initiative for the lifespan of the bond.
• The document notes a significant funding gap for adaptation, stating that while USD 200 billion globally will be required annually within twenty years to combat losses, historically less than a fifth of public climate finance has been dedicated to adaptation.

APA

Climate Bonds Initiative (2019). Climate Resilience Principles. https://www.climatebonds.net/files/documents/publications/Climate-Resilience-Principles-A-framework-for-assessing-climate-resilience-investments.pdf

Chicago

Climate Bonds Initiative. Climate Resilience Principles. 2019. https://www.climatebonds.net/files/documents/publications/Climate-Resilience-Principles-A-framework-for-assessing-climate-resilience-investments.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Bonds Initiative |title=Climate Resilience Principles |date=September 2019 |url=https://www.climatebonds.net/files/documents/publications/Climate-Resilience-Principles-A-framework-for-assessing-climate-resilience-investments.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climatebondsinitiative2019climate, author = {{Climate Bonds Initiative}}, title = {{Climate Resilience Principles}}, institution = {Climate Bonds Initiative}, year = {2019}, month = sep, url = {https://www.climatebonds.net/files/documents/publications/Climate-Resilience-Principles-A-framework-for-assessing-climate-resilience-investments.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }