Insights from Resilience Unpacked: The Role of National Platforms in Unlocking Adaptation Investment
As climate risks intensify, the need to channel finance into adaptation has never been more urgent. Yet, despite more than a decade into formal national adaptation planning, implementation continues to lag behind. Cadlas’ recent webinar and panel discussion brought together leading experts Nanki Kaur from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Michael Mullan from the Organisation of Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD), Bouke de Vries, independent expert and former advisor to the Executive Board of Rabobank and Danielle Evanson from the Government of Barbados’ Roofs-to-Reefs programme to explore how countries can and are already utilising national platforms to turn high-level adaptation policies into investment-ready strategies.
Unlocking the Potential of National Adaptation Plans (NAPs)
Nanki Kaur highlighted how National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) offer countries a structured way to assess climate risks and set sector-specific adaptation priorities. When done well, NAPs guide policy direction and investment planning, helping governments articulate both the urgency and strategic direction of their adaptation needs.
But turning these plans into investable projects is easier said than done. As Nanki pointed out, despite years of planning, adaptation financing remains elusive due in part to poor translation of climate risks into metrics that matter to investors. Many NAPs contain fragmented, small-scale solutions that fail to tackle adaptation at a systems level, and crucially, they’re often not well integrated into national public investment systems.
Making the Economic Case for Adaptation
Nanki also highlighted that one of the biggest challenges for countries has been demonstrating the value of adaptation. While there are many examples of economic modelling showing the costs of not adapting, very little analysis continues to be done on the benefits of proactive adaptation. This gap makes it harder for Ministries of Finance to justify adaptation investments or for private investors to see a business case for investing in adaptation.
To address this, ADB is supporting fourteen countries through its Climate Adaptation Investment Planning (CAIP) programme. This initiative focuses on aligning adaptation plans with public financial management systems and embedding economic analysis to assess the fiscal and financial returns of adaptation investment. This will in turn help governments to prioritise public funds where they are needed most, while steering viable projects towards private finance.
Building Institutional Architecture for Investment
Similarly, Michael Mullan underscored that effective adaptation planning requires robust cross-government coordination. While leadership often starts within specific ministries or agencies, unlocking finance and shifting national budgets requires collaboration from across all sectors and levels of government.
The OECD’s Climate Adaptation Investment Framework (CAIF) identifies six building blocks to integrate adaptation into investment planning including public finance mainstreaming, private investment support and sectoral regulation. To make this work, all parts of government need to be aligned. National platforms, Michael noted, can play a key role in strengthening institutional mechanisms, integrating climate risk into central government mandates and providing clearer planning signals to investors.
Lessons from Barbados’ Integrated Approach to Adaptation & Resilience
Danielle Evanson shared how Barbados is leading with an integrated, national platform approach through its “Roofs-to-Reefs” initiative. Rooted in the idea that climate resilience must stretch from households to coral reefs, the programme sits within the Prime Minister’s Office, enabling high-level coordination and oversight.
Roofs-to-Reefs operationalises adaptation planning by linking national policies, such as the Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) plan and Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) with investment plans across six priority sectors including water, energy, waste, land use, ecosystems and housing. Importantly, this approach blends public and private investment, guided by a unified national vision.
Barbados has also turned to innovative financing tools to scale impact, structuring debt-for-nature and debt-for-climate swaps that mobilised investment from multilateral banks and domestic financial institutions. These mechanisms facilitated the establishment of the Barbados Environmental Sustainability Fund and the Blue Green Investment Bank, which is now in its operationalisation stage.
Engaging the Private Sector: Insights from the Netherlands
Bouke de Vries brought a unique perspective from the Netherlands Sustainable Finance Platform (SFP) convened not by a ministry, but by the Dutch Central Bank. The SFP aims to bring together stakeholders from the financial sector, government and scientific institutions to promote sustainability in the Netherlands. The platform makes recommendations for removing barriers to sustainable finance and is actively involved in pilots for sustainability initiatives.
In the SFP’s Climate Adaptation Working Group, members discuss what is needed to accelerate climate adaptation at the national level, with a particular focus on private sector stakeholders. Notably, this working group also includes the secretariat of the National Delta Programme’s commissioner.
Bouke highlighted that climate change poses a systemic risk which also affects the financial sector. It must therefore understand and manage these risks within its assets and client portfolios, with banks, insurers and institutional investors assessing, pricing, transforming, or avoiding them. Additionally, the financial sector contributes to adaptation and resilience by financing adaptation investments and insuring against risks. These are also important commercial opportunities.
Clear labels and taxonomies provide both urgency and clarity by helping to translate climate data into meaningful signals for market actors that can inform investment decisions. Well defined and actionable national adaptation strategies and targets are much needed to make adaptation more investable and bankable, as well as communication to businesses and people to raise awareness, enabling regulation and policies.
A Systems Shift Is Underway
If there was one overarching theme from the panel, it’s that climate adaptation can no longer be treated as an isolated policy issue. It must be understood as a systems issue, one that spans ministries, markets and entire economies.
Whether through national platforms like Barbados’ Roofs-to-Reefs, cross-sectoral coordination frameworks championed by the OECD, or regional investment planning supported by ADB, the shift from planning to financing adaptation is gaining traction. But for these efforts to succeed, countries must not only clarify their priorities they must also build the economic and institutional foundations that enable investment to flow.
