The Triple Dividend of Building Climate Resilience: Taking Stock, Moving Forward

The paper introduces the Triple Dividend of Resilience (TDR) framework, which categorizes adaptation benefits into avoided losses (first dividend), induced economic/development benefits (second dividend), and social/environmental benefits (third dividend). It finds that the second and third dividends often exceed the value of avoided losses and can result in benefit-cost ratios greater than 1 independently of whether a disaster occurs. The author argues that fully quantifying these dividends can help mobilize public and private finance and suggests five strategies to standardize TDR analysis, including growing the evidence base and improving data collection.

• The Triple Dividend of Resilience (TDR) framework identifies three types of benefits from adaptation: avoided losses (first dividend), induced economic or development benefits (second dividend), and additional social and environmental benefits (third dividend).
• The second and third dividends are highly significant and often account for more than half of the total benefits of an investment; they accrue regardless of whether a climate risk actually materializes.
• The second and third dividends can independently generate benefit-cost ratios (BCRs) greater than 1, even when the value of avoided losses is excluded from the calculation.
• Case studies indicate that the second dividend provided over half of total benefits for drought management and coastal flooding projects, while the third dividend provided over half of total benefits for urban stormwater management using nature-based solutions.
• Integrating all three dividends can result in quantified benefits several times greater than when only one dividend is measured, which can facilitate better access to project finance and improved monitoring and evaluation.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). The Triple Dividend of Building Climate Resilience: Taking Stock, Moving Forward. https://www.wri.org/research/triple-dividend-building-climate-resilience-taking-stock-moving-forward

Chicago

World Resources Institute. The Triple Dividend of Building Climate Resilience: Taking Stock, Moving Forward. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/triple-dividend-building-climate-resilience-taking-stock-moving-forward.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=The Triple Dividend of Building Climate Resilience: Taking Stock, Moving Forward |url=https://www.wri.org/research/triple-dividend-building-climate-resilience-taking-stock-moving-forward |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendtriple, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{The Triple Dividend of Building Climate Resilience: Taking Stock, Moving Forward}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/triple-dividend-building-climate-resilience-taking-stock-moving-forward}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }