reporter
Name Affiliation Title Kyosuke Inada Special Advisor for Sustainability Promotion, JICA
summary
Date: November 18, 2025
Organized by UNEP ARIC
Venue (Pavilion Name)：Blue Zone Action Room 4
speaker
Name Affiliation Title Remco Fischer Climate Lead, UNEP FI Felicity Spall Director, Sustainable Business and Infrastructure, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Nancy Syk Nancy Syk Chief Climate Change Expert, European Investment Bank (EIB) Bradley Todd Hiller Lead Climate Mitigation Specialist, Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Kyosuke Inada Special Advisor, Sustainability Promotion, JICA Special Advisor for Sustainability Promotion, JICA
Background and Objectives
This event was organized to discuss the barriers to expanding financing for adaptation and resilience and the corresponding measures to overcome these barriers.
Contents
Mr. Fischer introduced the Investors Resilience Challenge (IRC) being developed by the Adaptation & Resilience Investors Collaborative (ARIC), of which UNEP is the secretariat, and which includes MDBs and DFIs that make non-sovereign investments and loans. The IRC has five criteria: (1) climate risk management, (2) climate risk outcome measurement, (3) adaptation-enabling activities, (4) adaptation outcomes, and (5) private capital mobilization (mainly for MDBs and DFIs). Investments that meet two or more of these criteria are expected to be recognized as “Investors Resilience Challenge”.
Mr. Spohr of the EBRD stated that the EBRD has been working since 2012 to classify and promote adaptation in its investment and financing business, and has been working on this as a cross-sectoral issue so that it is not locked in to climate change risks. From a macro perspective, it is now widely recognized that climate change impacts and risks are occurring, and that the only remaining issue is to address financial accounting so that adaptation is reflected in the bottom line. He noted that a working group among MDBs has been formed and is considering improvements, but that there are difficulties in obtaining the data needed to analyze risks and responses.
Mr. Saik of the EIB said that the MDBs have been discussing the need for adaptation for more than 20 years and are considering the integration of the Paris Agreement into the framework and the Global Adaptation Indicators (GGA) currently under discussion in international negotiations. He shared that the EIB has also set a target in its recently announced Climate Change Roadmap (2026-30, Phase 2) to increase the share of adaptation in the activities of the EIB as a whole and of EIB Global, which is mostly for developing countries and accounts for about 10% of the EIB’s total activities. The IRC was also commented on whether it would be a “reinvention of the wheel” in the face of existing efforts.
Mr. Hiller of IsDB introduced IsDBs as one of the few MDBs that, despite their small size, include many fragile states in their target areas, and the proportion of their climate change projects that are adaptation is greater than that of mitigation. He noted that the introduction of adaptation measures in infrastructure increases benefits and also has the ability to provide insurance to vulnerable communities.
Mr. Inada, JICA’s Special Advisor to the President, spoke on (1) JICA’s adaptation efforts (JICA has been focusing on sovereign financial and technical cooperation, but is also making progress in financing for private companies, etc.), (2) lessons learned from the 2X Challenge, a gender investment label, (3) challenges for the IRC, and (4) limitations of individual projects (limited projects with a few years’ scope may have limited outcomes, and it is important to link individual project investments to the overall country plan). (3) Lessons learned from the 2X Challenge, a label for gender investment, (4) Challenges of the IRC, and (5) Limitations of individual projects (even if adaptation is carried out within a limited scope of a few years, the outcome may be limited, and it is important to link the overall national plan with investments in individual projects).
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