Adaptation Finance: Emerging approaches to solve the climate adaptation finance gap

<p dir="ltr">The financial sector today resoundingly identifies climate change as an area of focus, both for risk management and opportunities. At the 2019 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, the world’s most prominent business and political leaders found that climate change-related impacts made up seven of the top ten major threats to the global economy.1 The problem is there is a mismatch between acknowledging this urgent need to adapt, and the amount of investment flowing to adaptation projects. This situation is referred to as the adaptation finance gap. The result of this gap is a significant and growing risk to the Australian and global economy which, if unaddressed, will have major economic consequences, entrench inequality and stagnate social prosperity. Against this backdrop, the Adaptation Finance Project (the Project) was formed. This Project bought together a group of leaders from finance and government who recognised the need and wanted to act. This report shares the insights from the Project’s two-year long journey.</p>