From Bonds to Blended Finance: How a Diverse Range of Financial Instruments Are Financing Climate Adaptation and Resilience

The study examines a dataset of 162 cases to understand how various financial instruments—including blended finance, bonds, and grants—are used for climate risk reduction and management. It finds that while most instruments are pooled through programs or funds, there is a growing trend toward instruments targeting multiple countries. The analysis reveals a preference for risk reduction over risk management and notes that blended finance is the most frequent instrument used, except in high-income countries where grants are more prevalent.

• The study identifies 11 types of financial instruments used for climate adaptation: blended finance, bonds, concessional and market-based loans, debt swaps, disaster risk financing, equity, grants, guarantees, insurance/risk transfer, and payment for ecosystem services.
• Blended finance is the most frequently utilized instrument across most income levels, although high-income countries rely more heavily on grants.
• Adaptation finance is predominantly focused on physical risk reduction (64%) rather than risk management (32%), likely because ex-ante investments are seen as having higher returns while ex-post instruments are viewed as costs.
• Most financial instruments are pooled through mechanisms, funds, facilities, or programs (75% of cases) rather than being project- or country-specific. The proportion of instruments targeting multiple countries increased from 16% in 2015 to 47% in 2024.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). From Bonds to Blended Finance: How a Diverse Range of Financial Instruments Are Financing Climate Adaptation and Resilience. https://www.wri.org/research/bonds-blended-finance-how-diverse-range-financial-instruments-are-financing-climate

Chicago

World Resources Institute. From Bonds to Blended Finance: How a Diverse Range of Financial Instruments Are Financing Climate Adaptation and Resilience. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/bonds-blended-finance-how-diverse-range-financial-instruments-are-financing-climate.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=From Bonds to Blended Finance: How a Diverse Range of Financial Instruments Are Financing Climate Adaptation and Resilience |url=https://www.wri.org/research/bonds-blended-finance-how-diverse-range-financial-instruments-are-financing-climate |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendfrom, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{From Bonds to Blended Finance: How a Diverse Range of Financial Instruments Are Financing Climate Adaptation and Resilience}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/bonds-blended-finance-how-diverse-range-financial-instruments-are-financing-climate}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }