For years, finance aimed at helping communities reduce the risks and harm they might suffer from climate disasters — known as adaptation finance — has been treated as the unglamorous poor cousin of mitigation finance: Necessary to have, but impossible to monetize.
At the climate conference COP30 this year, that narrative has flipped almost overnight. Country delegates, financiers, and development agencies are suddenly talking with confidence about the investability of climate adaptation, pointing to new finance vehicles and blended structures that promise to draw in vast amounts of private capital from corporations and impact investors.
This week in Belém, Brazil, nations are negotiating a potential new adaptation finance goal that could triple the annual amount to $120 billion if developing nations get their way. But many experts say this is nowhere near what’s needed: A report last week estimated that strengthening adaptation and resilience will cost $400 billion annually.