Context
Scaling up adaptation action and strengthening resilience across systems and communities, in pursuit of the Paris Agreement’s goals, requires forward-looking strategies and the co-creation of unconventional ideas grounded in diverse knowledge systems. This ensures that adequate and targeted financial resources are deployed to deliver tangible results. Leveraging knowledge and knowhow is a crucial means to achieving this goal. (see FCCC/SBSTA/2025/4, and FCCC/SBSTA/2022/6).
To meet the adaptation needs of countries and communities, resources must be mobilized at a scale that matches the evolving challenge. The impact of climate-related events on macroeconomic and fiscal stability is now widely accepted and policymakers are beginning to link climate resilience with financial stability, helping new ideas such as resilience-linked loans and adaptation technologies to emerge. Yet, vulnerable communities continue to face barriers to access climate finance tailored to address their specific needs. All actors, including communities, governments, financial institutions and private actors should co-lead efforts that embed climate risks and opportunities into every decision.
Background work under the NWP: Knowledge and Foresight
The Nairobi work programme (NWP) convened an expert group of 23 knowledge holders on adaptation and finance, representing intergovernmental agencies, non-profit organizations, banks and the private sector, as well as academia and research institutions. The expert group met in three virtual meetings and applied a foresight methodology to generate forward-looking and non-conventional novel ideas. The process included horizon scanning exercise, co-creating a vision and developing novel ideas (i.e., unconventional mechanisms that can expand the range of practical options for financing adaptation at all levels).
Objectives and scope of the event:
The key objective of the event is to engage diverse knowledge holders to co-ideate creative pathways and unconventional mechanisms that can expand the range of practical options for financing adaptation at all levels through a foresight-driven process.
Overall approach
- Building on the outcomes of the expert group’s work to-date, the event will begin with a review of the progress, in particular the novel ideas and pathways developed by experts to achieve the vision under different scenarios.
- Participants will actively co-ideate, refine, and stress-test these pathways to ensure they are actionable, grounded in real world context and resilient to diverse future scenarios.
- Participants will contextualize, refine, and test the identified pathways against real-world conditions in different regions, ultimately co-designing actionable recommendations on unconventional mechanisms that can expand the range of practical options for financing adaptation at all levels (regional, national, sub-national and local context).
Co-ideation of creative pathways and recommendations on unconventional mechanisms that can expand the range of practical options for financing adaptation at all levels through a foresight-driven process and inclusive engagement of diverse knowledge holders.
Slides for the event are available here.
Indicative agenda
| Time |
Session |
| 08:30-9:00 |
Arrival and registration |
| 09:00-9:20 |
Opening and scene setting
Facilitator: Roxanne Graham, National Climate Change Adaptation Officer, Grenada, and Regional coordinator, Global Water Partnership-Caribbean
- Objectives and outcomes – Rojina Manandhar, NWP Team Lead, UNFCCC Secretariat
- Overview of adaptation finance landscape – Evolving needs based on the horizon scanning – Gareth Phillips, Manager, Climate and Environment Finance Division, the African Development Bank
- Ice-breaker exercise
|
| 09:20-10:00 |
Session 1 –Shared vision, novel ideas and pathways
Facilitator: Roxanne Graham, National Climate Change Adaptation Officer, Grenada, and Regional coordinator, Global Water Partnership-Caribbean
- Presentation of the shared vision for adaptation finance in 2040 – Monalisa, Founder of Good Forest Indonesia Foundation
- Presentation of outcomes on unconventional mechanisms that can expand the range of practical options for financing adaptation at all levels and pathways–
o Soenke Kreft, Deputy Head of Risk and Adaptation Department, Head of MCII Division, UNU-EHS
o Fatema Rajabali, Africa Lead, Climate and Development Knowledge Network, South South North
- Plenary discussion and reflections (20min) – Co-facilitators: Roxanne Graham and Rojina Manandhar
|
| 10:00-11:20 |
Session 2 – Co-ideating and contextualizing the pathways
Instructions on the session and breakout group exercise
Co-facilitators: Roxanne Graham and Rojina Manandhar
Guiding questions for the breakout groups:
- Each group will discuss whether the novel idea requires any revision or further specification and add context or details as necessary.
- Each group will co-ideate and/or refine the pathway by:
o Adjusting milestones
o Strengthening enablers
o Recommending institutional, policy, or funding mechanisms
o Proposing pilots or proof-of-concept opportunities
|
| 11:20-11:45 |
Coffee break |
| 11:45-12:15 |
Reporting back from Session 2
Co-facilitators: Gareth Phillips and Rojina Manandhar |
| 12:15-12:50 |
Session 3 – From Pathways to Action
Co-facilitators: Gareth Phillips and Rojina Manandhar
Guiding Questions:
- What specific actions are required to implement the pathways?
- Which actors, institutions, or sectors should lead or support implementation?
- What enabling factors (e.g., policies, financing mechanisms, partnerships) are critical for success?
- How can these recommendations ensure inclusiveness, scalability, and long-term sustainability?
|
| 12:50-13:00 |
Closing and way forward –
Paul V. Desanker, Manager, Adaptation Division, UNFCCC secretariat |