Hazard Adaptation Finance Workshop

Climate-related hazards, including wildfires, extreme heat, flooding, coastal storm surge, torrential rain, and hail, are increasing in both frequency and severity. As populations grow and asset values rise in vulnerable areas, the potential losses to life, property, and infrastructure continue to escalate. Yet governments at every level often lack the financial capacity or political consensus to invest proactively in resilience and adaptation.

Access to funds is a large factor. What are the best practices in determining when and how much to invest in resilience? How might very large pools of private and institutional capital be deployed toward hazard mitigation and climate adaptation?

This invitation-only, highly participatory two-part workshop will explore how capital can be mobilized more effectively for hazard mitigation and climate adaptation. Discussions will focus on two areas:

• Emerging tools, analytics, credit structures, and business models for adaptation finance beyond traditional insurance approaches
•  Practical pathways for attracting and deploying large-scale private and institutional capital into coordinated, high-impact adaptation projects (including recent work exploring how this model could apply in Boston)

The workshop aims to strengthen communication and collaboration among leaders working at the forefront of adaptation finance – groups that may not have the opportunity to engage deeply across sectors and disciplines.

Through this convening, we hope to generate teaching materials, articles, test cases, business concepts, and investment frameworks that can advance practice in this emerging field. We also expect the workshop to catalyze future collaborations and contribute to the growing conversation around large-scale climate adaptation finance beyond government funding alone.