DESIGNING A CLIMATE RESILIENCE CLASSIFICATION FRAMEWORK

This white paper by the Climate Bonds Initiative presents a blueprint for a climate resilience classification framework designed to mobilize capital market investment into climate-resilient assets, activities, and entities. It proposes a systematic approach to identify eligible investments based on their 'Substantial Contribution' to resilience while avoiding maladaptation and significant harm to other sustainability goals.

• There is a significant gap between the estimated financing needs for climate resilience and current flows; developing countries alone require US$ 300 billion per year by 2030, yet reported global adaptation finance was only US$ 46 billion per year in 2021.
• Current sustainable bond markets show a low proportion of capital targeting climate resilience; as of the end of 2022, only 19 per cent of 33,849 recorded GSS+ debt instruments were identified as having climate resilience-related use of proceeds.
• The proposed Framework defines climate resilience as the capacity of economic, social, or ecological assets or systems to resist, absorb, accommodate, adapt to, transform, and recover from current and projected direct and indirect climate change impacts.
• Investment eligibility is based on two key principles: making a 'Substantial Contribution' to climate resilience and avoiding both maladaptation (which increases risk for other parties) and significant harm to other sustainability objectives.
• The Framework categorizes investments into three eligibility levels: 'Automatically eligible' (a white list requiring no additional assessment), 'Standardized checks' (requiring confirmation of eligibility in specific contexts), and 'Further assessment' (requiring detailed screening against specific criteria).
• The Framework is organized around seven proposed climate resilience themes: Resilient Agrifood Systems, Resilient Industry & Commerce, Resilient Cities, Resilient Nature & Biodiversity, Resilient Health, Resilient Societies, and Resilient Infrastructure.
• The Framework distinguishes between 'Adapted investments', which reduce physical climate risks to a specific asset or entity, and 'Enabling investments', which enhance the resilience of other assets, activities, or entities.
• To accelerate impact, the Framework allows for the use of 'proxies'—alignment with existing authoritative standards such as the Principles for Resilient Infrastructure or the SURE Infrastructure Standard—to determine eligibility.
• The Climate Bonds Global Resilience Programme aims to catalyze US$ 1.5 trillion in the thematic bond market for resilience investments by 2025.

APA

Climate Bonds Initiative (2023). DESIGNING A CLIMATE RESILIENCE CLASSIFICATION FRAMEWORK. https://www.climatebonds.net/files/documents/publications/Resilience-Taxonomy-White-Paper.pdf

Chicago

Climate Bonds Initiative. DESIGNING A CLIMATE RESILIENCE CLASSIFICATION FRAMEWORK. 2023. https://www.climatebonds.net/files/documents/publications/Resilience-Taxonomy-White-Paper.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Bonds Initiative |title=DESIGNING A CLIMATE RESILIENCE CLASSIFICATION FRAMEWORK |date=2023 |url=https://www.climatebonds.net/files/documents/publications/Resilience-Taxonomy-White-Paper.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climatebondsinitiative2023designing, author = {{Climate Bonds Initiative}}, title = {{DESIGNING A CLIMATE RESILIENCE CLASSIFICATION FRAMEWORK}}, institution = {Climate Bonds Initiative}, year = {2023}, url = {https://www.climatebonds.net/files/documents/publications/Resilience-Taxonomy-White-Paper.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }