Bridging the Adaptation Gap: Approaches to Measurement of Physical Climate Risk and Examples of Investment in Climate Adaptation and Resilience

Over 70% of private investors surveyed see both risk and investment opportunity from the impact of climate change, according to this study released in November 2016 by the Global Adaptation & Resilience Investment Working Group (GARI).  According to GARI, 78% of 101 surveyed investors and other stakeholders thought evaluating the physical risk from climate change was “very important,” while 70% would consider making investments that supported adaptation to climate change or climate change resilience now. These investor reactions were reported this discussion paper released by GARI at the COP22 Global Climate Summit held in Marrakech in 2016.

“Bridging the Adaptation Gap” describes the discussions of over 150 private investors and other stakeholders who met five times in 2016 to focus on (1) Approaches to Measurement of Physical Climate Risk and (2) Examples of Investment in Climate Adaptation and Resilience.  The report identifies six different approaches to measuring physical climate risk and reveals that respondents consider transparency and practicality the most important factors in approaches to assess physical climate risk.  The paper also catalogs existing infrastructure, corporate, and fixed asset investments that support adaptation and resilience to climate change.  Over 60% of respondent investors are considering investments today in resilient infrastructure and in companies whose products address the impact of climate change on water, agriculture, healthcare, energy, and financial services.