Consideration of financing of adaptation after project design

Many climate adaptation projects undertake technical design and feasibility prior to the financing stage, with the assumption that funding sources and instruments will already be available to allow their delivery.

In reality, the barriers to adaptation finance are such that many can only be overcome by working financing needs into the project design, such that the resulting project is bankable.

The issue results in many adaptation projects being designed and then not taken forward.

This was experienced in the design of a nature-based solutions project for real estate in Edinburgh, Scotland, where a technical option was appraised and developed without consideration of funding sources and options, and expectations

As a result, the project resulted in compromised outcomes, and was unfunded, despite significant interest from both private and public sector partners.