Report

Guiding Principles for the Preparation of Financing Strategies for Climate Change Adaptation in Developing Countries

Financing strategies for adaptation are increasingly being prepared by developing countries to help fund the actions they want to take to reduce the increasingly negative impacts of climate change on their citizens and economies. There is limited guidance, though, on how to ensure that these strategies achieve their end goal: increasing the amount of financing being invested in developing countries' prioritized adaptation actions.

By Deborah Murphy, Jo-Ellen Parry on September 12, 2023
  • Financing strategies for climate change adaptation are an increasingly necessary element of a country's approach to implementing their nationally determined contributions and National Adaptation Plans.

  • An effective financing strategy for climate change adaptation needs to consider the best and most strategic uses of various sources of finance, whether public or private, domestic or international.

  • A well-defined financing strategy for climate change adaptation can assist governments in clearly communicating their financing priorities for adaptation and, ideally, scaling up financing for these priorities.

This report identifies seven guiding principles that could inform developing country governments’ efforts to prepare financing strategies for adaptation. These principles are developed based on a review of existing financing strategies for adaptation and input from experts engaged in their development. They help guide the process by which these strategies are prepared and determine the content included within them. As elaborated in this report, financing strategies for adaptation in developing countries should:

  1. be country driven and fit for purpose;
  2. engage ministries of finance and planning;
  3. take a participatory and inclusive approach;
  4. identify the best and most strategic uses of various sources of finance and different financial instruments for adaptation;
  5. be aligned and consistent with other processes that are relevant to financing climate adaptation, including national development priorities and other financing strategies;
  6. identify actions to improve the enabling environment to scale up finance for adaptation; and
  7. set out processes to implement the strategy and measure its success.