How to Increase Financing for Urban Climate Adaptation and Resilience

This policy brief by the Climate Policy Initiative outlines seven key actions for national governments to scale financing for urban climate adaptation and resilience. It highlights a significant gap between urban climate mitigation and adaptation funding, arguing that while cities are critical economic hubs and highly vulnerable to climate risks, adaptation projects often lack the quantifiable financial returns and clear mandates needed to attract private and public investment.

• There is a substantial disparity between urban climate mitigation and adaptation financing. For the 2017-2018 period, annual investment in urban adaptation and resilience averaged approximately USD 7 billion, whereas urban mitigation projects received approximately USD 69 billion. This gap is attributed to the perceived risk of adaptation projects and a lack of quantifiable financial returns.
• Urban adaptation finance is heavily reliant on the public sector and specific project types. In 2017-2018, the public sector provided 77% of annual urban adaptation finance, with the private sector contributing 22%. The majority of this funding (59% or USD 4 billion annually) was directed toward water and wastewater management projects, followed by disaster risk management at 14%.
• Investing in climate-resilient infrastructure and early warning systems offers significant economic benefits. Global investment of USD 1.8 trillion in five key areas between 2020 and 2030 could yield USD 7.1 trillion in total net benefits. Specifically, spending USD 800 million on early warning systems in developing countries could reduce annual climate-related disaster losses by USD 3-16 billion.

APA

Knight, L., & Negreiros, P. (2022). How to Increase Financing for Urban Climate Adaptation and Resilience. Climate Policy Initiative. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Policy-Brief-How-to-Increase-Financing-for-Urban-Climate-Adaptation-and-Resilience.pdf

Chicago

Knight, Lauren, and Priscilla Negreiros. How to Increase Financing for Urban Climate Adaptation and Resilience. Climate Policy Initiative, 2022. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Policy-Brief-How-to-Increase-Financing-for-Urban-Climate-Adaptation-and-Resilience.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Knight |first1=Lauren |last2=Negreiros |first2=Priscilla |title=How to Increase Financing for Urban Climate Adaptation and Resilience |publisher=Climate Policy Initiative |date=November 2022 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Policy-Brief-How-to-Increase-Financing-for-Urban-Climate-Adaptation-and-Resilience.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{knight2022how, author = {Knight, Lauren and Negreiros, Priscilla}, title = {{How to Increase Financing for Urban Climate Adaptation and Resilience}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2022}, month = nov, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Policy-Brief-How-to-Increase-Financing-for-Urban-Climate-Adaptation-and-Resilience.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }