DEPLOYING ADAPTATION FINANCE FOR MAXIMUM IMPACT

This WRI briefing argues that the distinction between climate adaptation and traditional development is a false dichotomy that hinders the effective use of scarce finance. The authors advocate for 'doing development differently' by integrating a strong climate rationale into all development planning, building national adaptive capacity, and empowering local stakeholders through devolved decision-making to ensure long-term resilience.

• There is a significant gap between the financial needs for climate adaptation in developing countries and the available supply. UN Environment estimates a need of $140-300 billion per year by 2030, while public finance for adaptation was only $22 billion in 2016.
• The attempt by some funders, such as the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Board, to strictly separate adaptation projects from development projects is counter-productive. This approach often limits adaptation responsibility to environment ministries and risks creating 'maladaptive' investments in sectors like health and infrastructure because climate risks are ignored in general development planning.
• To maximize the impact of adaptation finance, project proponents and funders should establish a 'climate rationale' through three steps: identifying climate risks and vulnerabilities of affected populations, articulating how activities address those risks, and connecting activities to national and subnational climate and development policies.
• Effective national adaptive capacity requires four core institutional capabilities: the ability to understand climate risks and vulnerabilities, the capacity to coordinate across different ministries and sectors, the ability to manage and disseminate climate information, and the capacity to prioritize and implement adaptation actions.
• The document advocates for devolved decision-making, where international funders allow resources to be managed at local levels. Examples include Nepal's Local Adaptation Plans for Action and Kenya's County Climate Change Funds, which allow local committees to identify and implement adaptation actions.
• Specialized climate funds can model an integrated approach to development by using their mandates to build national capacity and scale programs with devolved decision-making. For instance, the GCF's Readiness Program can strengthen national focal points, while its Project Preparation Facility can fund the establishment of climate rationales.

APA

Chan, C., & Amerasinghe, N. (2018). DEPLOYING ADAPTATION FINANCE FOR MAXIMUM IMPACT. World Resources Institute. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/wri-commentary-adaptation-finance.pdf

Chicago

Chan, Christina, and Niranjali Amerasinghe. DEPLOYING ADAPTATION FINANCE FOR MAXIMUM IMPACT. World Resources Institute, 2018. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/wri-commentary-adaptation-finance.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{chan2018deploying, author = {Chan, Christina and Amerasinghe, Niranjali}, title = {{DEPLOYING ADAPTATION FINANCE FOR MAXIMUM IMPACT}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2018}, month = sep, url = {https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/wri-commentary-adaptation-finance.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }