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The White House Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience provided 35 recommendations across seven themes to help U.S. communities adapt to climate change. Key priorities include increasing coordination between federal agencies, integrating climate vulnerabilities into all federal policy and funding, and supporting vulnerable populations, including tribal and low-income communities. The federal government has responded with several initiatives, such as the Climate Resilience Toolkit, the National Disaster Resilience Competition, and specific funding requests in the FY 2016 budget for flood, coastal, and drought resilience.

The IISD Arctic Initiative focuses on bottom-up transformations to sustainability in the Arctic, addressing climate change adaptation, extractive industries, infrastructure, and transformative knowledge. It emphasizes the region's rapid warming—twice the global average—and the resulting pressures on ecosystems and food security, alongside increasing interest from global actors in shipping and resource extraction.

The document argues that green project bonds can provide a viable alternative to traditional bank lending for green infrastructure PPPs, especially in the wake of Basel III regulations. It details the characteristics of project bonds, the risks involved—such as construction risk and negative carry—and the necessity of credit enhancements to achieve investment-grade ratings. The paper also provides guidance for public procurers on integrating bond financing into tender processes and highlights the growing global market for climate-themed bonds.

The Measuring Up 2015 report analyzes climate action across 116 US local governments, representing approximately 14% of the US population. It finds that achieving these cities' 2050 emissions goals would be equivalent to shutting down 86 coal-fired power plants. The report highlights the success of cities like Atlanta, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, and Portland, noting that strong government leadership, supportive state policies, and private sector partnerships are critical for success. It argues that while local actions are significant, they require an enabling national policy framework, including strong power plant regulations and carbon pricing, to reach their full potential.

The report analyzes 52 tide gauges from Maine to Texas, projecting that by 2045, many U.S. East and Gulf Coast communities will face a ten-fold increase in tidal flooding. It argues that such flooding will disrupt daily life, damage infrastructure, and necessitate a coordinated national response combining local adaptation—such as elevating roads and restoring wetlands—with global carbon emission reductions.

The Green Economy Coalition (GEC) argues that while the green economy narrative is gaining traction, it requires a shift toward moral and economic storytelling, local 'heroes', and systemic financial reform to become mainstream. The document identifies key narrative 'storylines'—such as economic revival, community empowerment, and financial crisis—and emphasizes that emerging economies are currently adopting these frameworks more enthusiastically than developed nations. It specifically calls for the reform of central banks and monetary policy to address systemic risks like 'stranded assets' and 'carbon bubbles', suggesting that civil society must lead this change to overcome political apathy in the North.

The report examines how social strategy games can be used to communicate the complex interdependencies and trade-offs involved in urban climate policy, specifically regarding mitigation and adaptation. Based on data from gaming sessions in Denmark, Finland, and the US, the study concludes that while methodologically challenging, social games are a promising way to address complex planning problems. This work was part of a broader project to integrate science into humanitarian work through participatory tools to manage global climate risks.

Hoboken, New Jersey, suffered over $100 million in damage during Hurricane Sandy due to a history of ignoring scientific evidence in urban planning and infrastructure development. In response, Mayor Dawn Zimmer released the August 2013 Hoboken Resiliency and Readiness Plan, which prioritizes science-based flood mitigation, such as installing 'wet weather' pumps and creating green infrastructure like rain gardens. The city faces significant risk as 53 percent of its 50,000 residents live less than five feet above the local high tide line, with nonwhite and African-American residents disproportionately affected. The document argues that while the city is now better prepared, sustained political leadership is required to resist risky waterfront development and address the long-term effects of sea level rise.

The report argues that while India has robust legal frameworks for environmental and social safeguards in infrastructure procurement, poor implementation and a narrow definition of 'value for money' (VfM) lead to significant ecological losses and financial risks. It examines four key safeguards—Environmental, Forest, Wildlife, and Land Acquisition clearances—finding a disconnect between pre-concession approvals and post-signing monitoring. The authors propose shifting to a 'whole-life value' approach to VfM, integrating sustainability criteria into tender documents, and reforming financial risk models like the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) to better account for long-term green infrastructure gains.

The document examines how Hoboken, New Jersey, has historically prioritized short-term economic development over flood risk science, leading to significant vulnerabilities. It details the devastating impacts of Superstorm Sandy and the subsequent implementation of the Hoboken Resiliency and Readiness Plan, which aligns local efforts with federal climate and rebuilding strategies to address sea level rise and extreme weather.

The document details SEI's efforts to support sustainable urbanization through the development of the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) tool, greenhouse gas (GHG) emission tracking frameworks, and the promotion of ecological sanitation. It highlights specific projects in cities such as Bangalore, Seattle, and Leeds, while emphasizing the importance of stakeholder engagement and the co-benefits of urban green infrastructure.

The paper examines 27 PPCFIs with approximately US$41.3 billion in capitalization, finding a strong bias toward mitigation over adaptation and a preference for established markets over least-developed countries. It identifies significant hurdles in attracting private capital at the fund level, noting that only two of eleven funds aiming for private capital achieved sizeable investment. The authors recommend standardizing processes, increasing private sector awareness, and leveraging the Green Climate Fund to coordinate the fragmented landscape of climate finance.

The Luxembourg Greens oppose the Fiscal Treaty, asserting that its debt brake mandates austerity and deepens social inequalities by ignoring the revenue side of public budgets. The document argues that austerity has failed to trigger economic recovery and instead proposes a Green New Deal focused on green infrastructure and environmental industrial transition. It suggests that a genuine European solution requires a minimum tax base to stop tax competition and the use of Eurobonds or a common sinking fund to manage national debt burdens.

The document examines the internal and external financial sustainability of public-private partnerships (PPPs), emphasizing the role of Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs), project finance, and risk allocation. It argues that while PPPs can address infrastructure deficits, they require rigorous contracts and governance to ensure value for money. The briefing also suggests that PPPs can be used to promote green jobs, energy efficiency, and social equity through thoughtful design and political will.

The report identifies significant gaps in risk mitigation for clean investments, particularly regarding policy and financing risks. It categorizes risks into four groups: political/policy/social, technical/physical, market/commercial, and outcome risks. In developed markets, gaps are most acute for policy risk due to retroactive support cuts and for technical risks in immature technologies. In developing markets, while the supply of political risk insurance is higher, policy risk remains under-covered and financing risks are exacerbated by weak domestic financial institutions. The authors argue that an optimal risk allocation framework should assign exogenous risks (like policy) to the public sector and endogenous risks (like technical) to the private sector.

The report examines first-loss protection mechanisms as tools to bridge the financing gap for low-carbon infrastructure by shielding institutional investors from initial losses. It analyzes two primary models: the European Commission-European Investment Bank Project Bond Initiative (EC-EIB PBI) and the proposed Sustainable Development Bond Assurance Corporation (SDBAC). The authors argue that for these instruments to be effective, they must align with investors' risk-return profiles, secure investment-grade ratings from agencies, and be priced competitively, often requiring concessional support from sponsors like development banks to remain viable.

The document examines policy risk—defined as unexpected government regulatory changes—and its impact on renewable energy investments. It analyzes existing tools like MIGA and OPIC political risk insurance and World Bank partial risk guarantees, while detailing a new OPIC FiT insurance product. The report concludes with recommendations for improving these instruments through standardization, expanded geographic scope, and better integration with credit rating agency methodologies to enhance project bankability.

The paper examines the intersection of WASH investments and disaster risk reduction, arguing that disconnected public and private investments often increase vulnerability, particularly in poor urban areas. It identifies four critical building blocks for resilience: access, siting, mitigation/adaptation, and sharing. The authors argue that social learning—the process of sharing knowledge across stakeholders—is essential to trigger strategic innovation and effective PPPs. The document highlights how structural flood protections can paradoxically increase risk and advocates for 'green infrastructure' and ecosystem-based assessments to ensure long-term sustainability.

The report identifies a critical gap between climate science outputs and the operational needs of transportation practitioners. It argues that adaptation requires not only improved climate data—such as updated precipitation atlases and sea-level rise projections—but also a deep understanding of local non-climate factors like infrastructure elevation and soil saturation. The document emphasizes the need for a 'central clearinghouse' of information, better 'Climate-to-English' translation of scientific terms, and the integration of climate risk into existing asset management and budgeting processes. It highlights various pilot projects and tools, including the FHWA Risk Assessment Model and Toronto's Climate Change Risk Assessment Tool, as pathways toward increasing the adaptive capacity of transportation systems.

The report details the public health dangers of flooding, including drowning, waterborne diseases, mold-induced respiratory issues, and mental health trauma. It argues that climate change increases the frequency and intensity of extreme precipitation and sea-level rise, exacerbating these risks, particularly in areas with combined sewer overflow systems and high-density floodplain development.