The Climate Innovation for Adaptation and Resilience Alliance (CIFAR, pronounced “see far”) is a global initiative working to accelerate responsible innovation in digital finance for climate adaptation and resilience. The CIFAR Alliance (evolved from the Digital Finance for Climate Resilience - DF4CR - Task Force), is housed at BFA Global and aims to create impact at the intersection of finance, technology, and climate resilience.

The Alliance currently has 11 full members and one observer member: the Better than Cash Alliance at the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), BFA Global (Secretariat), British International Investment (BII), Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) housed at the World Bank, FSD Africa, the GSMA Foundation, Mercy Corps Ventures, MicroSave Consulting, PayPal, the UN Race to Resilience, and World Resources Institute (WRI), with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as an Observer.

The CIFAR Alliance aims to provide gender-inclusive climate adaptation and resilience tools and resources directly to 1 billion of the world's most vulnerable people, as well as mobilize over $200 billion of catalytic public, private and capital market investment in widely scaled solutions by 2030. The experiences, needs and interests of the world's most affected individuals, small businesses, and natural ecosystems guide the Alliance’s actions, with particular focus on rural, urban, and coastal populations globally.

Through a Working Group model, the Alliance supports collaboration across an ecosystem of actors that aims to foster interdisciplinary knowledge-sharing, resource alignment, rapid feedback, and peer challenge to deliver client-centered solutions and to trigger other collaborations on innovation. At present, the Alliance coordinates 8 Working Groups, benefiting from the contributions of 37 participating partner organizations. The Alliance Secretariat (hosted by BFA Global) includes a Team Lead and Gender Lead role who coordinate Alliance operations and support Working Group activities.

CIFAR Alliance Working Groups (as of October 2022):

• Blockchain for Resilience

• Blue Wave Advisors

• Carbon Finance

• Climate Resilient Agriculture

• Climate Venture Investment

• COP27 Planning Committee

• Elevating the Voices of Affected People

• Metrics and Measurement

Upcoming Events and Activities

Thanks to the continued financial support of founding member PayPal, the CIFAR Alliance is delighted to be a co-sponsor of the Resilience Hub Pavilion at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt and will be releasing a broad range of knowledge events and meetings, in-person and virtually.

Additional CIFAR Alliance activities will be announced soon, including events at Financial Inclusion Week, Africa Resilience Hub, AFSIC London, and the Pathways Summit. In addition, a virtual ‘Meet the Members’ Session with the CIFAR Alliance representatives will be hosted on October 28th – please register to attend.

Access the Digital Finance for Climate Resilience Framework for Action

Released by the DF4CR Task Force (predecessor of the CIFAR Alliance) at COP26 in November 2021, the Framework for Action details tangible steps that innovators, catalytic funders, investors, regulators and policymakers, and ecosystem enablers can take now and in the future to accelerate the ecosystem’s growth.

The CIFAR Alliance is coordinated by BFA Global and made possible by financial support from PayPal