Enhancing collaboration between public development banks in emerging markets and developing economies

The report argues that while there is growing interest in adaptation finance, collaboration between international and national public development banks in EMDEs remains limited and often treats adaptation as a co-benefit rather than a primary goal. It identifies structural barriers—such as complex application processes, lack of shared taxonomies, and local currency risk—and proposes five strategic recommendations: complementary taxonomies, country platform approaches, regional adaptation hubs, capacity-building, and the use of blended finance to de-risk projects.

• Current collaboration on climate finance between multilateral development banks (MDBs) and national development banks (NDBs) in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs) is limited, with very few collaborations prioritizing adaptation as the primary outcome; instead, adaptation is typically treated as a co-benefit bundled with mitigation or disaster risk reduction.
• Barriers to collaboration include a lack of shared understanding regarding adaptation finance definitions, complex application processes for DFI/MDB funds, and a DFI/MDB preference for projects with large ticket sizes. NDBs specifically struggle with local currency risk, an inadequate pipeline of bankable projects, a lack of capacity to track adaptation finance, and a perception that adaptation projects offer lower returns.
• To improve adaptation finance, the report recommends five interventions: creating complementary and context-specific taxonomies, utilizing country platform approaches for better alignment with national needs, establishing regional development banks (RDBs) as regional adaptation hubs, enhancing capacity-building and knowledge-sharing, and using blended finance to de-risk international adaptation finance.

APA

Climate Policy Initiative (2024). Enhancing collaboration between public development banks in emerging markets and developing economies. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/partnering-to-finance-adaptation/

Chicago

Climate Policy Initiative. Enhancing collaboration between public development banks in emerging markets and developing economies. 2024. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/partnering-to-finance-adaptation/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Policy Initiative |title=Enhancing collaboration between public development banks in emerging markets and developing economies |date=30 September 2024 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/partnering-to-finance-adaptation/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climatepolicyinitiative2024enhancing, author = {{Climate Policy Initiative}}, title = {{Enhancing collaboration between public development banks in emerging markets and developing economies}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2024}, month = sep, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/partnering-to-finance-adaptation/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }