A Snapshot of Global Adaptation Investment and Tracking Methods

The report finds that global adaptation finance is dominated by public development finance, with a heavy concentration in water and wastewater management. While finance often aligns with the most vulnerable sectors in specific countries like Pakistan, Zambia, and Niger, significant funding gaps remain relative to Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) targets. The authors highlight critical data gaps in private sector and domestic public finance and recommend the use of new datasets from the Climate Bonds Initiative and CDP to improve tracking accuracy.

• In 2015-16, national and multilateral development finance institutions were the primary sources of adaptation funding, providing an annual average of USD 15 billion, which represents 69% of the total tracked adaptation finance.
• Water and wastewater management was the most funded sector, attracting 50% of total adaptation finance in 2015 and 2016. Agriculture, forestry, and land use followed with an average of USD 4.5 billion, or 21% of the total.
• Project-level market rate debt was the dominant financial instrument for adaptation, averaging USD 11 billion per year in 2015-16, while grants and low-cost project debt each accounted for USD 5 billion.
• Geographically, the East Asia and Pacific region received the most adaptation finance (USD 9 billion annually), followed by Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean (USD 3 billion each).
• Analysis of Pakistan, Zambia, and Niger shows that adaptation finance generally flows to their most vulnerable sectors; however, total funding is insufficient for some. For example, Zambia's tracked annual finance of USD 45 million is significantly lower than its NDC estimated annual cost of USD 1.3 billion.
• Private sector adaptation finance is severely undercounted due to definitional challenges and data gaps. Potential new data sources include the Climate Bonds Initiative, which noted USD 2.6 billion in bonds for adaptation and resilience since 2015, and CDP, where 139 A-list companies identified USD 13.9 billion in costs for managing physical climate risks in 2018.

APA

Richmond, M., Meattle, C., Micale, V., Oliver, P., & Padmanabhi, R. (2020). A Snapshot of Global Adaptation Investment and Tracking Methods. Climate Policy Initiative. https://climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/A-Snapshot-of-Global-Adaptation-Investment-and-Tracking-Methods-April-2020.pdf

Chicago

Richmond, Morgan, Chavi Meattle, Valerio Micale, Padraig Oliver, and Rajashree Padmanabhi. A Snapshot of Global Adaptation Investment and Tracking Methods. Climate Policy Initiative, 2020. https://climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/A-Snapshot-of-Global-Adaptation-Investment-and-Tracking-Methods-April-2020.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{richmond2020snapshot, author = {Richmond, Morgan and Meattle, Chavi and Micale, Valerio and Oliver, Padraig and Padmanabhi, Rajashree}, title = {{A Snapshot of Global Adaptation Investment and Tracking Methods}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2020}, month = apr, url = {https://climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/A-Snapshot-of-Global-Adaptation-Investment-and-Tracking-Methods-April-2020.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }