Minister for Development statement on climate investment

Climate impacts are increasing, and we know that more finance is needed. This includes finance for adaptation, where the annual gap is estimated at $387 billion by 2030 and cannot be met by public finance alone. Private investment in adaptation has lagged far behind that in mitigation. This is because revenue streams are limited, investor time horizons can be short, and there are limitations to data about the economic and social impacts of not investing in adaptation, as well as a lack of established methodologies for integrating adaptation and resilience into climate investments.

We must develop approaches so that climate- and nature-related physical risks are more accurately priced into investment decisions. There is also more we can do, including continuing to reform the Global Financial System so that more finance is available from multilateral development banks and development financial institutions to support mobilising private finance for adaptation. We can collaborate with institutional investors, industry bodies, Development Finance Institutions and technical experts to build the business case for climate resilient investment across technologies, sectors and scales of investment. Effective partnerships between the public and private sectors will be critical to making these approaches a reality.

FCDO is increasing its collaboration internationally and across the private sector to drive forward this agenda.