Welcome to the third issue of the Cadlas Quarterly Newsletter! Each issue will provide valuable insights into the latest trends and developments in climate resilience finance, covering topics such as sustainable bonds, climate resilience taxonomies, and more. This newsletter is also an excellent way to stay up-to-date on the Cadlas team and our work!

Cadlas recently hosted Resilience Unpacked: The Role of National Platforms in Unlocking Adaptation Investment, a timely webinar on moving from climate adaptation planning to financing.

The session featured rich insights from Nanki Kaur (ADB), Michael Mullan (OECD), Bouke de Vries (independent expert and former advisor to the Executive Board of Rabobank) and Danielle Evanson (Government of Barbados, Roofs-to-Reefs Programme), who shared practical insights on how national platforms can align public investment, mobilise private finance, and build systemic resilience.

Speakers emphasised the need to embed economic analysis into adaptation planning to demonstrate the benefits of proactive investment over the costs of inaction. They stressed the importance of integrating adaptation into public financial management systems, enabling stronger cross-government coordination, and designing institutional structures that can steer both public and private finance. Innovative financial instruments such as Barbados’ debt-for-nature and debt-for-climate swaps were showcased as examples of how to scale investment through coherent, nationally driven platforms.

Read more insights from the webinar here and click here to watch the webinar recording!

Represented by Senior Specialist for Climate Resilience, Noah Wescombe, Cadlas co-delivered the “Scaling Up Climate Adaptation Finance” workshop at the recently held UNEP-FI Regional Roundtable on Sustainable Finance for Latin America & the Caribbean in São Paulo, contributing to a dynamic regional dialogue on mobilising capital for climate resilience.

The session highlighted the need for locally relevant taxonomies, alignment with national policies and the integration of meaningful KPIs to drive accountability and impact. A clear takeaway was the power of collaboration in unlocking scalable adaptation solutions.

Cadlas has been actively working on this agenda and is currently collaborating with the Climate Bonds Initiative to advance the development of their Climate Bonds Resilience Taxonomy, a robust framework designed to guide and scale investment in climate adaptation across global markets. Read more insights from this workshop here.

Cadlas, in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), has analysed the potential for Project Preparation Facilities (PPFs) in supporting climate adaptation investments. This work examines the role of PPFs in catalysing adaptation finance in Asia and the Pacific.

The Asia-Pacific region faces a significant adaptation finance gap, with annual investment needs estimated between $102-431 billion, far exceeding the $34 billion in adaptation finance flows in 2021-2022. PPFs can help bridge this gap by providing technical and financial support to develop bankable adaptation projects.

The analysis profiles existing PPF initiatives in select ADB member countries to identify best practices and common challenges. It offers recommendations for scaling up effective PPFs, including ensuring operational flexibility and strategic alignment with national priorities, developing sustainable financing strategies, strengthening capacity building functions, fostering innovation, and addressing key implementation challenges. By supporting the development of a robust pipeline of investable adaptation projects, PPFs can help accelerate and scale up adaptation action in the region. The outputs of this work can guide ADB member countries and development partners in establishing and strengthening PPFs as an integral component of their adaptation finance strategies.

Stay tuned for the full release of this work in the form of a concept note on the ADB and Cadlas websites in the near future.

The real estate sector is highly vulnerable to climate change impacts ranging from the increasing occurrence of extreme heat events to more frequent damaging floods. In addition to the risks to real estate assets and investment portfolios, these also pose significant threats to livelihoods, well-being and health. Recent analysis by the influential think tank I4CE examines the role of the financial sector in helping to adapt the real estate sector to a changing and more extreme climate.

This calls for coordinated action across commercial banks, property insurance companies and asset management firms, both to support appropriately structured investments in real estate adaptation, and in providing financial services that improve the enabling environment for climate resilient investment in the sector.

Cadlas was pleased to contribute to this leading-edge analysis through expert reviewer inputs from our CEO Craig Davies, building on our first-hand experience of working with a range of financial institutions on climate resilience in the built environment.

The full report can be read here on the I4CE website.

In early March, Cadlas Analyst Aiesha Joseph attended Project Dandelion’s annual convening in Bellagio, Italy, where she joined leading women at the intersection of gender and climate justice.

The experience led to deep reflections on the links between climate resilience finance and gender equality, highlighting the significant challenges women face in accessing climate adaptation finance. This issue is particularly pressing in developing countries, where the adaptation finance gap remains vast. Aiesha also noted the limited integration of gender considerations in climate finance, with only a small portion of funds currently addressing these disparities.

Despite growing awareness, less than 5% of public adaptation finance in 2022 was gender-responsive, and only 1% of green, social, and sustainability bonds included gender objectives. To bridge this gap, Aiesha emphasises the need to rethink how we fund resilience by innovating inclusive financial tools, integrating gender into finance design, and improving data systems for tracking impact.

Read more of Aiesha’s insights here.

Investment in climate adaptation is being held back by fragmented, incremental planning, according to a recent Environmental Finance article covering Cadlas’ webinar, Resilience Unpacked: The Role of National Platforms in Unlocking Adaptation Investment. ADB’s Nanki Kaur highlighted that many National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) narrowly focus on production like seeds or water use while neglecting the full value chain, limiting investment appeal. For instance, Armenia’s resilient horticulture plans lacked market clarity, deterring banks. Bhutan offers a stronger model with its Climate Adaptation Investment Plan (CAIP), clustering actions into 11 water-sector packages with system-wide thinking and clear financing pathways, including private and blended finance.

To scale up climate adaptation financing through green bonds, clearer taxonomies and stronger public sector participation are essential, said the OECD’s Michael Mullan during Cadlas’ Resilience Unpacked: The Role of National Platforms in Unlocking Adaptation Investment webinar, as reported by Environmental Finance. Mullan emphasized that public issuers like France and MDBs such as the EBRD help build market familiarity. However, a key barrier remains knowing what qualifies as adaptation investment. The Climate Bonds Initiative’s new Resilience Taxonomy, launched in late 2024, aims to define eligible activities, reduce transaction costs, and help adaptation find its place in the growing sustainable bond market.

In early March, Cadlas Analyst Aiesha Joseph attended a workshop hosted by the Scottish Government and ClimateXChange, focused on advancing climate adaptation finance in Scotland.

The event brought together academics, policymakers, and financial services to explore opportunities for tackling Scotland’s climate adaptation challenges. Discussions centred on innovative funding mechanisms, private and public sector collaboration, and how to align financial flows with adaptation needs to close the finance gap.