He is passionate about developing innovation solutions that lead to tangible benefits for public and private sector organizations. We have global frameworks, national plans, pledges, coalitions, and financial innovations, but they often operate in silos. Without a common architecture to align actors and efforts, we risk fragmentation that undermines both efficiency and equity.

Adaptation Yields High Returns Even when Disasters Don’t Strike

Richard Carson is a strategy and operations–focused consulting partner at Deloitte Canada, with deep national and international experience in various government- and citizen-focused sectors. He is also Deloitte’s global leader within the Sustainability in the Government and Public Sector practice. His particular areas of expertise include sustainability/ESG strategic planning, technology enabled customer growth, and public sector transformation. The shift toward regionalism, local capital market development, and innovative uses of blended finance reflects a broader pivot of global finance toward more localized, tailored solutions that address domestic needs. The information provided in this document reflects its author’s understanding and approach to climate change as at the date of this document and is subject to change without notice.

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Mott MacDonald has collaborated with Equitix, a leading global investor, developer, and fund manager of core infrastructure assets, to undertake a comprehensive Physical Climate Risk Assessment (PCRA) for its portfolio. resilientinvestment.org The December 2022 Deloitte-ThoughtLab Global City Survey highlights the need for city leaders globally to track climate action in their cities and develop strategies to address the challenges. The resilience imperative has elevated the prioritization of hardening both government operations and broader society. Every rare natural disaster, every ransomware attack, and every broken supply chain has raised awareness, unlocking greater resources and investments for resilience endeavors. Such markers aim to drive urgency and focus coordination ahead of key decision points throughout 2025 and beyond. Progress on each reform topic is evaluated and updated regularly to reflect real-time developments in the international finance ecosystem.

Baku delegates also set a New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG), committing to deliver $300 billion annually by 2035, and to work towards mobilising $1.3 trillion over the same timeframe to fund climate mitigation and adaptation in developing nations. A number of country pilot projects are expected to be launched to trial innovations coming out of the Coalition’s work, aiming to protect economies and citizens’ lives from increasing climate impacts. In addition, the Coalition wants to develop analytical tools including a physical risk pricing framework and methodology by 2020, and will also look at issues such as how to prevent capital flight from the most vulnerable regions and solutions to negate that. Putting a price on climate risk is something that is often asked of the insurance and reinsurance industry, given the market underwrites exposures that are intrinsically linked to climate related factors, such as weather and natural catastrophe risks. Receive our expert insights on issues that transform business, increase sustainability and improve lives.

• The financing provided for the 112 call system in Ukraine will expand data centres across the country and upgrade their technological capacity, ensuring that critical services are reliable and efficient.
• Investors, banks, ratings agencies, insurers and engineering firms all have a key role to play – as do governments, international finance institutions and donors.
• Richard Carson is a strategy and operations–focused consulting partner at Deloitte Canada, with deep national and international experience in various government- and citizen-focused sectors.
• Understanding the aggregate economic impacts of climate change more systematically is an important step in this direction.

The launch of CRIF 1.0 reflects growing recognition that physical climate risks are not yet fully priced into asset valuations, and that investors must act now to avoid value erosion and seize emerging opportunities. By helping investors who are seeking to improve the financial resilience of both individual assets and entire portfolios, CRIF 1.0 also contributes to building resilience in the real economy. As part of the CCRI’s asset design and structuring workstream, a Physical Climate Risk Assessment Methodology (PCRAM) has been developed under the guidance of Mott MacDonald. The methodology will be incorporated into a guidance document, which will be widely shared to help asset owning organisations evaluate and integrate the cost-benefit implications of physical climate risks into infrastructure planning, design, appraisal and ongoing operations and management. The International Climate Initiative (IKI) Fund was established in 2019 in partnership with the government of Germany, with the aim of catalysing investment for ambitious climate change mitigation and adaptation projects in developing and emerging countries. The IKI Fund seeks to do this by providing investment grants, financial instruments and technical assistance to public and private sector beneficiaries, as well as advisory services to central banks and financial institutions.

This paper focuses on the need to incorporate physical climate risks in infrastructure design and investment decision-making. With climate change impacts becoming more frequent and severe, the global infrastructure asset base is becoming increasingly exposed to risk – with potentially devastating consequences for the world’s most vulnerable communities. Yet, around the world, physical climate risks are not consistently quantified and mitigated, with investors worried that funding will not be available to improve the resilience of their infrastructure.

CCRI’s Systemic Resilience working group has launched two pilot projects in Jamaica to develop an investment prioritisation tool to enable governments and local policy makers to protect and maximise socio-economic value within infrastructure networks. A new initiative will better equip highways and transportation professionals to determine their priorities and actions on climate change, says Mott MacDonald transport and mobility solutions project director, Annette Smith. With disrupted supply chains, policymakers look to reshoring and “friendshoring” for a path to improved resilience for key industries and nations as a whole. Cybercrime against users, businesses, and even nations is growing, but governments and the private sector are pooling information and talent to prevent attacks. Traditionally, our security team focused on securing conventional computing and network infrastructure.

Social housing is one of the most pressing issues in Ukraine, with 10% of the country’s housing stock damaged as a result of the war. The EIB is supporting the government in drafting a new housing code and exploring the possibility of financing the construction of homes that are publicly owned. Another element of the package is the planned rollout of the European Union’s common 112 emergency number and call system across Ukraine to enhance public safety. President Calviño visited an operating centre in Kyiv that will run the new system to mark the signing of a €40 million EIB loan for the initiative, which is complemented by a €12 million EU grant and funding from Member States under the EU for Ukraine Fund.

Improving the data collection, monitoring and evaluation systems for adaptation investments — both before and after implementation — can deepen our understanding of their diverse benefits. More evidence on the realized impacts of adaptation investments, coupled with improved cost-benefit methodologies, could help refine our understanding of their benefits across all three dividends and attract additional finance from more diverse sources. A climate investment strategy details the key steps and actions an investor will take to implement its climate policy.

In December 2024, City Council approved $300 million for eight large-scale initiatives that will reduce carbon emissions, improve infrastructure, and create local economic opportunities in energy efficiency, construction, and renewable energy. The EU for Ukraine Fund (EU4U) was established in 2023 as part of a larger EU for Ukraine initiative. The fund aims to accelerate EIB Global’s support for Ukraine’s most urgent infrastructure needs and help sustain its economy. The Fund supports both public and private sector projects to rebuild critical municipal infrastructure and improve access to finance for entrepreneurs. Worsening storms and floods inundate entire cities; crippling droughts parch farmland; and intensifying climate risks threaten water supplies.