Global Center on Adaptation

How can financial institutions accelerate investment in climate-resilient housing across Africa?

This week, GCA delivered a three-day training on Climate-Resilient Housing Finance to the Trade and Development Bank Group - TDB Group as part of the Green, Resilient and Inclusive Housing Development (GRIHD) programme.

The training strengthened participants' understanding of how climate adaptation can be integrated into housing finance through practical product development, market analysis and climate risk assessment. Topics included resilient housing markets, customer segmentation, adaptation finance, gender and inclusion, and the use of practical tools such as the Building Resilience Index (BRI) and EDGE Buildings.

A key focus was supporting Partner Financial Institutions (PFIs) to develop financial solutions that respond to local climate risks while expanding access to resilient housing across Eastern and Southern Africa.

The programme also highlighted the importance of partnerships. Scaling resilient housing finance requires collaboration between development finance institutions, commercial lenders, technical partners and the wider housing ecosystem to transform adaptation needs into investable opportunities.

We thank our partners at TDB, The World Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund and IFC - International Finance Corporation for their collaboration and valuable contributions to the programme.

Through initiatives such as GRIHD, GCA continues to support financial institutions in integrating climate adaptation into investment decisions and expanding access to resilient infrastructure across Africa.

Europe's latest heatwave is a reminder that extreme heat is becoming a defining challenge of our time. Across Africa, cities are already showing what climate adaptation looks like in practice.

A recent Le Monde article explores how countries across the continent are adapting to rising temperatures and highlights examples supported by the Global Center on Adaptation.

The article features GCA's work in Djibouti, where climate-informed mapping is helping identify opportunities to expand urban green spaces and reduce urban heat, and in Mauritania, where GCA is supporting the integration of heat resilience into major infrastructure projects to better protect workers and safeguard long-term investments.

As GCA's Cédric Malaval explains in the article, planning infrastructure with future climate conditions in mind is essential to protect lives while avoiding growing economic costs.

The article is available in French, with an English version also available. Please note that a subscription may be required to access the full article.

How cities in Africa are adapting to intense and deadly heat Reflective paints, green roofs, work breaks: Many African countries are seeking innovative ways to cope with increasingly extreme temperatures.

Homa Bay County has formally approved Kenya's first People's Adaptation – Local Physical and Land Use Development Plan (2025–2035), marking an important milestone for locally led adaptation.

Climate change often impacts low-income communities and informal settlements first, yet these groups rarely have a meaningful voice in formal planning processes. Developed through extensive community participation and supported by GCA and partners, the plan demonstrates how local knowledge and priorities can be integrated into statutory planning systems to help build more resilient and inclusive cities.

Read more here: https://brnw.ch/21x3u3t

Homa Bay approves People-Led Climate Adaptation Plan - Global Center on Adaptation H oma Bay County, Kenya, June 2026 – Across Africa, the impacts of climate change are often felt first and most severely by low-income communities living in informal settlements. These communities frequently face flooding, poor drainage, inadequate water and sanitation services, insecure housing, ...

GCA's CEO Rindra Rabarinirinarison delivered opening remarks to the Africa Business Leadership Group on Adaptation during a side event of the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali last week, engaging business leaders on the private sector’s role in advancing the climate resilience agenda.

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GCA CEO delivers opening remarks to the Africa Business Leadership Group on Adaptation in Kigali - Global Center on Adaptation CEO addresses business leaders during a side event of the Africa CEO Forum, exploring private sectors contributions to the climate resilience agenda.

New GCA sector briefs on climate resilience in The Gambia 🇬🇲

Under the African Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP), the Global Center on Adaptation is supporting the Government of The Gambia in coordination with multilateral development banks and development partners to integrate climate resilience into infrastructure planning and investment.

We are pleased to share replicable insights from this technical support, with three new country briefs providing practical guidance on strengthening resilience across key systems:

- Adaptation and Resilience Options for the Transport Sector
- Adaptation and Resilience Options for the Water Sector
- Adaptation and Resilience Options for the Inland Water Transport Sector

These briefs highlight climate risks affecting critical assets and services and identify cost-effective investment priorities — from resilient road design and improved water governance to nature-based solutions and enhanced multimodal connectivity.

They are supported by three technical reports forming the analytical foundation of this work: Climate Hazard Assessment for The Gambia, and sectoral Climate Risk Assessment for Water Resources and for the Transport Sector.

Together, these outputs support ongoing efforts with national institutions and international financial institutions to strengthen climate-resilient infrastructure, improve connectivity, and enhance access to energy and essential services across the country.

🔗 Read the reports here: https://brnw.ch/21x0MyV

Africa’s adaptation finance gap remains vast — especially from the private sector.

In 2023, only 3% of adaptation finance in Africa came from private sources, despite growing climate risks facing MSME-driven economies. Scaling private capital is critical to protect livelihoods, strengthen resilience, and prevent mounting financial and development losses.

A new GCA technical brief highlights that unlocking adaptation finance requires going beyond Climate Risk Assessments. Banks need an enabling internal environment to integrate climate adaptation into lending practices — from strategic alignment and shared adaptation taxonomies to client-centered product development and addressing climate data gaps.

Drawing on GCA’s collaboration with the Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank and CRDB Bank Plc, which supported climate risk assessments aligned with Bank of Tanzania regulations, the brief shares early insights from this technical assistance. It highlights four key enabling factors:
• Strategic alignment on the objectives of Climate Risk Assessments
• Shared adaptation and resilience solution taxonomy
• Client-centered financial product development
• Intentional efforts to address existing data gaps

This brief is designed for African bank sustainability leaders and technical assistance providers, offering practical insights to integrate climate adaptation into lending practices.

🔗Read the brief: https://brnw.ch/21x0Iy9

Structuring Finance for Climate-Resilient Infrastructure and Food Systems in Bangladesh 🌱🇧🇩

The Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) convened the third and final roundtable under the initiative Pathways to Implementing the National Roadmap and Global Tools for Nature-based Solutions (NbS), bringing together government agencies, development partners, and financial institutions.

Building on the Bangladesh Climate Resilient Infrastructure Investment Roadmap, which identified a pipeline of 35 climate-screened infrastructure projects, the initiative has progressed toward investment-ready concepts.

The roundtable focused on structuring financing pathways for the broader project pipeline, with particular emphasis on three model investments linking , , and agri-food value chains.

Discussions explored opportunities to mobilize public finance, development partner resources, and instruments to advance these projects forward.

Looking ahead, the discussion will help advance institutional partnerships and next steps to move these investments from concept to implementation, positioning them as scalable models for development in Bangladesh.

📘 New Handbook for Young Climate Leaders

As part of the Youth Leadership and Education Program, the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA), in partnership with the University of Groningen Business School, has developed a new Handbook for the Youth Academy on Climate Adaptation and Leadership.

This resource aims to strengthen the professional, leadership, and training skills of young people, enabling them to empower their communities and accelerate climate adaptation and resilient development.

Through the Training-of-Trainers model, young leaders can multiply knowledge and support locally led adaptation across their regions.

🔗Read the Handbook: https://brnw.ch/21x0Et1

GCA is delighted to announce that H.E. President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, 6th President of the Republic of Mauritius, is assuming the role of Chair of the Board of the GCA and H.E. Rindra Rabarinirinarison, former Minister of Economy and Finance of Madagascar, is joining the Global Center as its new CEO. The appointments place female leadership from the Global South at the helm of the GCA as the Center celebrates 8 years of transformative efforts to promote climate adaptation.

The Global Center also thanks and recognises H.E. Ban Ki-moon and Prof. Patrick V. Verkooijen for their leadership as founding Chair and founding CEO as their tenures in office conclude.

🔗 Read more: https://brnw.ch/21x0AsZ