A five-step approach to defining adaptation investments and establishing practical, outcome-focused criteria has been published as part of the Land, Nature and Adapted Systems (LNAS) Advisory Group’s final report.
Framework to develop a UK Green Taxonomy for adaptation and resilience sets out to provide a framework to define adaptation and resilience, enabling investments to mobilise adaptation finance and increase the UK’s resilience to escalating climate risks.
According to LNAS, the message is clear; no region is immune to the mounting pressure of climate change, and adaptation is essential in a 1.5°C world. Increasingly frequent and extreme weather events and chronic risks from rising sea levels and coastal erosion threaten lives and economies around the globe.
Given this, the Advisory Group said a well-defined, government-backed adaptation taxonomy “can help identify and scale effective resilience-building solutions.” Its role would be to help financial institutions understand physical climate risks, collaborate on resilience solutions and identify opportunities in adaptation-enabling technologies, ranging from advanced forecasting tools, water-efficient irrigation systems and parametric insurance products, to nature-based solutions.
To illustrate how the framework could work in practice, the report includes a ‘cities and settlements’ example, demonstrating how to address critical risks such as urban heat stress and flooding.
Ingrid Holmes, executive director at the Green Finance Institute and former chair of the UK’s Green Technical Advisory Group, said: “To date, no country has yet developed an adaptation taxonomy that starts with the outcome we need to see – a real economy adapted to the climate change that is already here and yet to come. The first principles-based approach described in this paper aims to do just that, providing a framework to support the mobilisation of finance into resilience and adaptation-focused investment, starting with the built environment.”
The LNAS Advisory Group, spun off from the Green Technical Advisory Group (GTAG), has been tasked with advising the government on how to develop adaptation and resilience within a UK Green Taxonomy.
Meanwhile, in November, the government announced a consultation on the value case of a UK Green Taxonomy, identifying sustainable finance as one of five priority growth opportunities for the UK.
Robert Bradburne, chair of the LNAS Advisory Group, added: “Adaptation is a necessity. By clarifying what qualifies as an adaptation and resilience-enabling investment, a UK Green Taxonomy can give financial institutions the confidence and guidance needed to invest at the scale and speed these challenges demand.”
