Sep 28, 2026
The case for investment in climate adaptation
CAESAR brings together 21 partners across Europe to address the finance gap through better evidence, innovative financing mechanisms and new approaches to shared resilience.
Introduction
BILBAO, 28 September 2027. A new three-year European project launched this September with a clear ambition: to make climate resilience a more compelling investment opportunity for the private sector.
Funded by the European Union’s Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change, CAESAR (“Climate Adaptation and Economic Solutions for Adaptive Resilience”) brings together 21 partners from six countries and will work across nine European case studies to explore new ways of mobilising private finance for climate adaptation.
CAESAR addresses this persistent gap between the scale of investment needed and the funding currently available, mostly covered by already underfunded public institutions.The United Nations Environment Programme estimates that the global adaptation finance gap stands at US$187 billion to US$359 billion per year, while only around 2% of adaptation finance was mobilised from private sources in 2021–2022. Yet the benefits of climate adaptation extend far beyond public institutions. Businesses, households, communities and essential services all stand to gain from measures that reduce climate risks and prevent future losses.
The challenge is not only lack of capital, but how to quantify, capture or translate the benefits and risks into a clear investment proposals. Many adaptation measures already create significant economic and social value, but that value is not always visible to investors.
Coordinated by the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3), CAESAR will take a multi-layered approach, developing and testing methodologies for assessing adaptation value, identify barriers to private investment, innovative financing mechanisms and key narratives to produce practical recommendations for policymakers, municipalities and financial actors.
With these insights, CAESAR will produce a Private Adaptation Finance Framework (PAFF) to help turn climate adaptation from a cost to be financed into an opportunity to invest in.
Nine real Climate Challenges
CAESAR will test its approach across nine case studies in Spain, Ukraine, Switzerland and Norway, covering water management, critical infrastructure, health and wellbeing, land use, food systems and ecosystems.
In Granada, the project will explore how sustainable drainage and other adaptation measures can strengthen urban water infrastructure and reduce the risks associated with flooding and wastewater overflows.
In Benidorm, the focus is on resilient water supply in a Mediterranean city where seasonal demand puts increasing pressure on limited water resources.
In the Júcar River Basin, CAESAR will explore how nature-based solutions can strengthen watershed resilience to drought, flooding and wildfires while developing financing models that can attract greater private-sector participation.
In Chernihiv and Vinnytsia, climate adaptation is closely connected to the resilience of communities and infrastructure in the context of Ukraine’s reconstruction. The cases will explore renewable energy for essential services and greener urban environments, alongside financing mechanisms that link improved financial terms to verified environmental and social performance.
In Bern and Kirchberg, the project will examine how cooperative housing can adapt to heat, cold, energy stress and other climate risks while remaining affordable and attractive to private investment.
In Nordre Follo and Trøndelag, CAESAR will test how planning requirements, insurance and financial mechanisms can encourage property owners and developers to invest in climate risk prevention before damage occurs.
Together, the nine case studies will provide practical evidence on how different sectors and communities can move from identifying climate risks to developing credible, financeable adaptation solutions.
Making the case for investment
CAESAR will also examine a less visible barrier to private investment: how adaptation is communicated.
A dedicated strand of the project, will investigate how different narratives and framing influence the way private-sector actors understand climate risk, adaptation and investment opportunities.
The work will begin with research into how private-sector stakeholders currently perceive climate adaptation, what shapes their decisions and where existing approaches fail to engage them. These insights will inform an experimental methodology in which different narratives and message structures are tested across the case studies and assessed against stakeholder responses.
The aim is to identify not simply what sounds persuasive, but what actually helps decision-makers understand the value of adaptation and consider taking action. The findings will inform practical guidance for municipalities and other actors seeking to attract private investment.
About CAESAR
Project name: CAESAR — Climate Adaptation and Economic Solutions for Adaptive Resilience
Grant agreement: 101296145
Call: HORIZON-MISS-2025-01-CLIMA-05 — Better understanding incentives for private sector financing of adaptation solutions
Duration: 36 months
Coordinator: Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3), Spain
The project starts the: 01 September 2026.
Consortium partners
Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3, ES, coordinator) · Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ, DE) · AQUATEC Soluciones Medioambientales (AQUA, ES) · I-Catalist (ICA, ES) · Empower Insight (EI, FR) · Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation (GIB, CH) · SINTEF (NO) · Climate Risk Advisory (CRA, NO) · Analistas Financieros Internacionales (AFI, ES) · Foundation for Climate Research (FIC, ES) · EMASAGRA (ES) · Generalitat Valenciana (GVA, ES) · HIDRAQUA (ES) · FAMBAU Genossenschaft (CH) · Ayuntamiento de Benidorm (ES) · KLP (NO) · Statsforvalteren i Trøndelag (NO) · Independent Association of Ukrainian Banks (IAUB, UA) · Municipality of Chernihiv (UA) · Municipality of Vinnytsia (UA) · Oschadbank (UA)
Media contact
Laura Vay, CAESAR Coordinator
laura.vay@bc3research.org
Available on request: photographs from the kick-off meeting in Bilbao, interviews with the coordinator and work package leaders.
Funding statement
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.