Search Climate Insights Directory

This research paper examines the discourse and implementation of climate adaptation strategies in Sweden through a securitization lens to determine if climate change is treated as a security issue or as part of normal politics.

This research paper examines securitization trends in Swedish climate adaptation policy between 2005 and 2022, analyzing whether the approach aligns with threatification, riskification, or normal politics through the lens of discourses, actor constellations, and tools.

This report by the Climate Bonds Initiative analyzes the sustainable securitization market in Brazil as of the third quarter of 2022. It examines the regulatory framework for asset-backed securities (ABS), the growth of themed debt instruments (Green, Social, Sustainability, and Sustainability-linked), and the specific potential for these tools to finance small-scale sustainable projects in agriculture, bioenergy, and infrastructure.

This briefing by RMI examines how several US states are using securitization—a financing tool that replaces high-cost utility capital with low-interest ratepayer-backed bonds—to facilitate the equitable retirement of coal-fired power plants. The document details how this mechanism can lower electricity rates for consumers, enable utility investment in clean energy, and provide funding for displaced workers and affected communities.

This briefing by Energy Innovation compares 2019 securitization legislation passed in Colorado, Montana, and New Mexico. These laws allow utilities to issue ratepayer-backed bonds to refinance investments in early-retired electric generation plants, primarily coal, to reduce consumer costs by replacing high-cost corporate finance with low-cost debt.

The Green FIDC is a proposed financial instrument in Brazil that adapts the Fundo de Investimento em Direitos Creditórios (FIDC) structure to provide low-cost, long-term capital for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. By using a two-stage process of development finance followed by capital market refinancing, the instrument aims to mitigate early-stage risks. A pilot for rooftop solar via Órigo Energia is underway, with a long-term goal of leveraging USD 1 billion in clean investment, creating 3,600 jobs, and avoiding 6 million tons of CO2.

This briefing by the Climate Policy Initiative analyzes the 'Green FIDC,' a proposed asset-backed security designed to scale private finance for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in Brazil. The instrument adapts the existing Fundo de Investimento em Direitos Creditórios (FIDC) framework to transition risky greenfield projects into bankable businesses by securitizing project receivables, thereby reducing reliance on the Brazilian National Development Bank (BNDES).

This guide explains the mechanics, applications, and implementation requirements of securitization as a tool for climate finance. It details how pooling fragmented green assets into tradable securities can mobilize institutional capital, recycle balance sheets for originators, and manage credit risk through tranching. The document provides a framework for assessing financial market readiness across shallow, emerging, and mature markets, and outlines the specific capacity needs for ministries of finance and regulators to support these instruments.

This research paper by the Stockholm Environment Institute proposes a new governance paradigm called "strategic resilience" to address the failures of traditional climate change adaptation. The authors argue that adaptation is currently hindered by its placement within relatively weak environment ministries and a narrow focus on territorial impacts. By relocating adaptation to the center of government and integrating it into a broader resilience agenda, states can better manage complex, cross-border climate risks and avoid a "securitization" approach dominated by defense logics.