From Risk to Reward: The Business Imperative to Finance Climate Adaptation and Resilience

By Veronica Chau, Qahir Dhanani, Nathanial Matthews, Charmian Caines, Trish Stroman, Rebecca Gibbs, Maxine Yee, and Pippa Fielding

From Risk to Reward is a study by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in collaboration with the Global Resilience Partnership (GRP) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) that lays out the investment thesis for the private sector to finance climate adaptation and resilience. BCG’s analysis aims to inform industry-wide actions at this critical time. This report details the adaptation and resilience business case, laying out three key opportunities for the private sector to secure value and identifying the specific entry points for finance:

The “Protect” Opportunity.

Companies can safeguard value at risk and protect assets, supply chains, and operations by implementing and financing adaptation and resilience measures. Lenders and investors can safeguard their portfolios by deploying capital toward resilient assets and companies.

The “Grow” Opportunity.

Investors can finance companies that develop adaptation and resilience solutions, and companies can invest in new adaptation and resilience product lines, creating climate-resilient revenue streams and thereby expand the overall market of adaptation and resilience solutions.

The “Participate” Opportunity.

The private sector can collaborate with the public sector to finance and implement capital projects and deploy finance toward vehicles that support a portfolio of projects.

The report closes with a set of actions that different industry participants can take to begin availing themselves of these three opportunities and fostering systemic resilience to help protect the planet and its people.

This report is part of BCG’s contribution to the PREPARE Call to Action to the Private Sector.