Resource Library
We have compiled this list of resources to assist our community with learning more about this growing challenge and opportunity areas.
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Impact Investment in Resilient Agriculture by Rescuing Imperfect Produce
This Case Study highlights how Farm to Feed enhances climate resilience for smallholder farmers in Kenya by purchasing their imperfect but edible produce that would otherwise be wasted. It measures the economic value captured, greenhouse gas emissions avoided, and nutritional value retained by rescuing this surplus food, demonstrating tangible climate change mitigation and adaptation benefits.
Author:
CIFAR Alliance
May 2024
Catalyzing Change, Building Momentum for Climate Action
This report share our learnings, to ensure our efforts in climate action and financial inclusion resonate across communities worldwide. As we embrace this phase of cross-pollination, we appreciate our journey’s unique paths, learning from each achievement and challenge.
Author:
CIFAR Alliance
April 2024
Elevating the voices of affected people in climate adaptation
This whitepaper provides a broad look at how financial and non-financial products and services can support the resilience of vulnerable populations. In doing so, it seeks to highlight the challenges that stakeholders must address to support their climate resilience. The paper also examines where and how financial services can play a role in that journey.
Author:
MicroSave Consulting, CGAP & CIFAR Alliance
February 2023
Enabling and financing locally-led adaptation
This white paper explores the most effective adaptation measures that define successful initiatives and how they can be implemented in the face of ecological and physical constraints, limitations in knowledge and resources, and social dynamics.
Author:
MicroSave Consulting & CIFAR Alliance
January 2024
Impact Investment in Climate-Resilient Drought Insurance
This Case Study from the CARMet Co-Lab describes how OKO, a crop insurance provider in Mali, tracks the number of policies sold, the overall value of the crop insurance policies it sells, and the number of payouts made, as well as the resulting changes in the amount farmers invest in their farms and the increased access to credit obtained by farmers, to measure the impact of its services.
Author:
CIFAR Alliance
December 2023
The Influence of Gender Relations on Women's Involvement and Experience in Climate Change Adaptation Programs in Bangladesh
This study looks at women’s increased socio-economic vulnerabilities within climate shocks and focuses on their contributions and their significant influence on climate change adaptation practices.
Author:
Tanjeela, M. and Rutherford, S.
2018
Rural Women and Climate Change: The Products and Services that Are Expanding Earning Potential and Mitigating Risk
This blog considers how integrating a climate and gender lens into financial services for rural women could help reduce the gender inequality gap and prevent them from being excluded from climate resilience initiatives.
Author:
Dalberg Advisors
2022
Is Adaptation to Climate Change Gender Neutral? Lessons from Communities Dependent on Livestock and Forests in Northern Mali
This academic paper discusses six gender participatory workshops that assessed vulnerability and adaptive strategies to climate variability and change for livestock and forest-based livelihoods in Mali
Author:
Djoudi, H. and Brockhaus, M.
2011
Climate Change Gender Action Plans: A Method for Moving from Commitment to Action
This blog explores how countries are using Climate Change Gender Action Plans (ccGAPs) to identify gender-specific opportunities in nationally-determined climate-related priority sectors through a participatory, multi-stakeholder process.
Author:
IUCN
2022
Bolstering Women’s Climate Resilience and Adaptation through Financial Services
This working paper illustrates how women are differently impacted by climate change and how financial services can play a better role in strengthening their autonomous adaptive capacities to climate change.
Author:
CGAP
June 2023
Accelerate transformation: Invest in African Women Leading Climate Action
This thought leadership report seeks to accelerate and scale the climate and gender solutions being led by African women, highlighting the need for urgent action from investors and across the ecosystem
Author:
The Rallying Cry
2022
Climate Change + Gender:
Intersectionality and Innovation
We provide definitions of Gender and Climate Finance, Gender Intersectionality, Gender and Climate Smart Innovation, Gender and a Global Loss and Damage Fund, along with essential resources that provide information and guidance on integrating gender considerations into climate change policies and programs.
Author:
CIFAR Alliance
October 2023
Fintech for Climate Resilience: A compendium of startup innovations building resilience in emerging markets
This report by the CIFAR Alliance Investors Working Group highlights 11 successful ventures that are building solutions to improve the resilience of communities susceptible to climate change. The Alliance members, including Catalyst Fund, Mercy Corps Ventures, British International Investments (BII), FSD Africa, Gawa Capital, MSC, Omnivore, and IUCN, illustrate how fintech can deliver scalable climate resilience solutions.
Author:
CIFAR Alliance
February 2023
Inclusive and Nature-based Carbon Markets: A Path to Resilient Livelihoods in Sub-Saharan Africa
The Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM), where individuals, institutions, and corporations buy and sell carbon credits to offset their carbon emissions, is a promising way for vulnerable communities to access critical resources.
This new Opportunity Brief from the CIFAR Alliance explores how the VCM could be harnessed as a way to provide economic incentives for climate mitigation and adaptation in Africa, and to direct a greater share of the benefits to small land stewards, small project developers and, ultimately, smallholder farmers who have been excluded from it until now.
Author:
CIFAR Alliance
October 2022
Adapt Now: A Global Call for Leadership on Climate Resilience
This report focuses on making the case for climate adaptation, providing specific insights and recommendations in key sectors: food security, the natural environment, water, cities and urban areas, infrastructure, disaster risk management, and finance. It is designed to inspire action among decision-makers, including heads of state and government officials, mayors, business executives, investors, and community leaders.
Author:
Global Commission on Adaptation
Sep 2019
Climate Adaptation Knowledge Exchange
Climate Adaptation Knowledge Exchange (CAKE) is an ever-growing shared knowledge base aimed to enhance climate adaptation action by:
> Providing accurate, timely, and useful information for existing and future CAKE users.
> Increasing awareness of adaptation projects, options, practitioners, and resources.
> Engaging the broader community to develop the field of adaptation.
Author:
Climate Adaptation Knowledge Exchange
Building Climate Resilience, What Can FSPs Do?
This webinar looks at how FSPs are approaching the issue of climate change with their clients. We hear from two MFIs on what they are currently doing to build climate resilience in clients, both through new financial products, such as livestock insurance, and adapting existing financial services to meet specific community needs.
Author:
FinDevGateway
Jun 2022
A Blueprint for Digital Climate-Informed Advisory Services
This paper discusses the role of digital climate-informed advisory services in building the resilience of small-holder producers by 2030. It puts forth key principles for good practice, an estimation of the needed investment for scaling services and preliminary ideas for targeting these investments for reaching the most vulnerable and marginalized.
Author:
World Resources Institute (WRI)
Jul 2021
A billion of the world's most climate-vulnerable people live in informal settlements – here's what they face
The Conversation's post describes the effects of climate change on vulnerable populations in informal settlements and how institutions can help deliver adaptation to dwellers.
Author:
Peter H. Maltbie, The Conversation
Mar 2022
Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program
The AAAP focuses on four action areas (pillars) that collectively address Africa’s adaptation priorities, and are shaped to fit identified niches that provide key opportunities to drive adaptation through transformative and innovative action.
Author:
Global Center on Adaptation
2021
Regenerative Agriculture: An opportunity for businesses and society to restore degraded land in Africa
This report identifies existing and potential benefits across the agricultural supply chain and broader society. The report draws on practical examples, academic reviews, and quantitative modeling to build a comprehensive picture of the business case for regenerative agriculture.
Author:
Africa Regenerative Agriculture Study Group
2021
How Can Finance Help Address Our Dual Climate and Nature Crises?
This discussion paper explores the importance of nature in addressing climate change and the role of finance in supporting a nature-positive and net-zero economy. This is a critical issue to ensure finance can make a meaningful and proportional contribution to supporting the Paris Agreement
Author:
Finance Sector Expert Group for Race to Zero and Race to Resilience (FSEG)
Nov 2021
Wealthy countries still haven’t met their $100 billion pledge to help poor countries face climate change, and the risks are rising
Wealthy countries are under pressure to make good on their commitment to mobilize US$100 billion a year to help poorer countries deal with climate change
Author:
Rishikesh Ram Bhandary, The Conversation
Feb 2022
‘Climate entrepreneurs deserve fast capital’: Enduring Planet unwraps a new fintech platform
Enduring planet aims to deliver fast debt capital to startups and small businesses that focus on climate, such as by mitigating emissions or helping humanity adapt to the disastrous effects of burning fossil fuels.
Author:
Harri Weber, TechCrunch
May 2022
Beyond Carbon Credits: A Blueprint For High-Quality Interventions That Work For People, Nature and Climate
This document sets out WWF’s views on implementing high-impact and high-quality nature-based solutions for climate mitigation from the perspective of the people and the places where they work, as a companion to WWF’s Blueprint for Corporate Action on Climate and Nature, which focuses on business- or demand-side integrity. It also discusses how funders and companies can contribute to nature-based solutions as an integral part of their broader climate strategies.
Author:
WWF International
Nov 2021
Blueprint for Scaling Carbon Finance
The trading of carbon credits can help companies—and the world—meet ambitious goals for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. Here is what it would take to strengthen voluntary carbon markets so they can support climate action on a large scale.
Author:
McKinsey
Jan 2021
Why Are Nature-Based Solutions on Climate Being Overlooked?
Nature-based adaptation can simultaneously help meet the three great challenges of our time: responding to climate change, protecting biodiversity, and ensuring human well-being. But right now, the opportunities for delivering these synergies are still going begging.
Author:
Yale Environment
Apr 2022
High Quality Blue Carbon Principles and Guidance
This guidance identifies principles and guidelines specifically tailored to address the unique aspects of blue carbon. It also is intended to lay the groundwork for understanding key markers that can be used to evaluate the quality of projects.
Author:
Meridian Institute
June 2022
Deploying distributed renewable energy to reduce the impacts of extreme heat on the urban poor
This brief explores the potential for distributed renewable energy (DRE) to
play an increased role in mitigating heat risk in large urban and peri-urban
settlements via its integration into passive and active cooling solutions.
Author:
The Atlantic Council
Oct 2021
Kenya launches 2050 Calculator to advance climate change mitigation
KCERT 2050 is designed to help policymakers, energy producers and consumers (including the public) in Kenya to understand the energy and emissions-related choices they are making, providing a platform for engaging in dialogues on the challenges and opportunities of the future energy system and the responses to climate change.
Author:
Imperial College London
July 2022