A Snapshot of Global Adaptation Investment and Tracking Methods

This report by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) analyzes global adaptation finance flows for 2015-2016, identifying a significant reliance on public development finance and highlighting critical data gaps in private and domestic public sector tracking. It evaluates the alignment of these flows with regional and country-level vulnerabilities and provides recommendations for improving tracking methodologies to better inform investment.

• In 2015-16, public development finance was the primary source of adaptation funding, with national and multilateral development finance institutions providing an annual average of USD 15 billion, representing 69% of the total tracked adaptation finance.
• Adaptation finance is heavily concentrated in specific sectors, with water and wastewater management attracting 50% of the total volume tracked in 2015 and 2016. Agriculture, forestry, and land use followed, receiving an average of USD 4.5 billion, or 21% of the total.
• The East Asia and Pacific region received the highest volume of tracked adaptation finance at USD 9 billion annually in 2015-16, followed by Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, which each received USD 3 billion.
• Financial instruments vary by region and sector: East Asia and the Pacific primarily received project-level market rate debt or equity, whereas Sub-Saharan Africa received the vast majority of its finance through grants and low-cost project debt.
• Case studies of Pakistan, Zambia, and Niger indicate that adaptation finance generally aligns with the most vulnerable sectors in those countries. However, total tracked finance may be insufficient to meet stated needs; for example, Zambia received approximately USD 45 million annually, far below the USD 1.3 billion per year estimated in its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).
• Significant data gaps exist in private sector and domestic public sector tracking. To address this, CPI identified the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) and CDP as promising data sources; CBI data shows USD 2.6 billion in bonds issued by new issuers since 2015 specifically for adaptation and resilience.

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} }