As the impacts of climate change accelerate, climate adaptation — the process of adjusting systems, communities, and economies to changing climate conditions — is moving from the margins to the mainstream of climate action. For financial institutions, this shift is more than just a policy trend, it’s an emerging area of risk management, investment opportunity, and strategic relevance.
Adaptation finance refers to funding directed at building resilience to climate change impacts — from flood-resistant infrastructure to drought-resilient agriculture, early warning systems, and risk-transfer mechanisms like insurance. For financial institutions, it offers the chance to future-proof assets, diversify portfolios, and align with global policy and market shifts. UNEP’s Adaptation Gap Report 2025 finds that the private sector has the potential to provide around USD50 billion per year in adaptation finance, if backed by policy action and blended finance solutions.
COP30 has begun in Belém, Brazil, and adaptation finance is expected to be one of the central themes. Below are key developments that financial institutions should watch and engage with as the global community ramps up action on resilience.
Finalizing the global goal on adaptation
At COP30, negotiators are set to advance the global goal on adaptation, including agreement on a shortlist of adaptation indicators and the launch of the world’s first global adaptation scorecard. Importantly, 11 of these indicators focus on tracking adaptation finance flows from public, private, and international sources. For financial institutions, this signals growing momentum, and pressure, to quantify, tag, and report adaptation investments. Aligning portfolios with these indicators early can help institutions demonstrate leadership, transparency, and accountability as global standards for adaptation finance emerge.
The USD1.3 trillion challenge: The Baku to Belém Roadmap
Launched at COP29, the Baku to Belém Roadmap aims to mobilize USD1.3 trillion in climate finance annually, with a strong push to triple adaptation finance by 2030. While COP29 fell short of agreeing on specific finance targets, it laid the groundwork for the private sector to play a far greater role. The Roadmap highlights the need for non-debt or low-debt solutions, creating opportunities for financial institutions to innovate through guarantees, blended finance, catastrophe bonds, parametric insurance, risk pools, and country investment platforms.
This is a clear call to action: the finance sector must move beyond mitigation and emissions-focused strategies to embrace adaptation as a core investment frontier. Those that take on the challenge will see the benefits — building more resilient portfolios, unlocking new markets, and driving long-term value creation in sectors that underpin sustainable growth.
To learn more, consult the UNEP FI-led position paper developed by the Members of the Transformational Finance for Climate Group to support the publication of the Baku to Belém Roadmap.
COP30’s thematic days and action agendas on adaptation
The COP30 Presidency has designated November 10 and 11 as adaptation and resilience days, with tailored programming across the Blue and Green Zones in Belém. These sessions are expected to feature announcements, case studies, and stakeholder collaborations — including from businesses and financial institutions. In alignment with these thematic days, UNEP FI is convening Insurability, Inclusion and Resilience Day today, 10 November, as part of the Global Sustainable Insurance Summit. View all UNEP FI events at COP30 here.
Adaptation also features prominently across the COP30 Action Agendas — thematic platforms that mobilize voluntary climate action from state and non-state actors, including the finance sector. The sixth Action Agenda, focused on cross-cutting enablers like finance, technology, and capacity building, is especially relevant for financial institutions. It outlines how capital can be directed toward adaptation solutions and how investors can partner with governments and development banks to scale impact.
Financial institutions looking to align commitments with global adaptation goals and demonstrate leadership within the evolving climate finance landscape should track these agendas closely to anticipate emerging priorities. Investors also have the opportunity to engage with the Investors Resilience Challenge, led by development finance institutions (DFIs) through the UNEP FI–convened Adaptation and Resilience Investors Collaborative. Launched today, the challenge brings DFIs and private investors together to align on principles to mobilize private capital for adaptation and resilience projects.
What financial institutions can do next
To summarize, as adaptation finance takes centre stage at COP30, financial institutions have multiple entry points to engage, influence, and lead:
Align with emerging adaptation indicators and frameworks
Explore low-debt finance models and innovative tools that target resilience
Support the Investors Resilience Challenge and respond to our consultation on its guiding principles
Participate in UNEP FI events at COP30
After COP30, continue to engage by participating in our webinar series on climate adaptation for the finance sector or, for banks, download our guidance on implementing adaptation and resilience.