LONDON, 17/09/2019: The Climate Bonds Initiative has released the Climate Resilience Principles (CRP) – a high-level guidance for governments, investors and banks to determine when projects and assets are compatible with a climate resilient economy.
Coordinated by a partnership between Climate Bonds Initiative, World Resources Institute (WRI) and Climate Resilience Consulting, the development of the Climate Resilience Principles was undertaken by an Adaptation and Resilience Expert Group (AREG), comprised of more than 30 specialists from leading international authorities in the adaptation and resilience space, drawn from academia, not-for-profit, public and private sectors of climate science.
The CRP enhance standards across the global green finance market and provide a comprehensive, robust framework to evaluate the appropriateness and the effectiveness of climate resilience investments.
They include, but go beyond, a requirement for robust analysis of climate risks. They also require measures to be taken (in asset or project design, construction or adaptation) that ensure the asset or project is 'fit for purpose' in the face of a changing climate.
The CRP come at a time when adapting to climate risks opens new opportunities, in both developed and emerging economies, in areas including heat-resilient building materials, water-efficient technology, (embracing drip irrigation) and early warning systems for climate hazards, among many others.
The CRP are aimed at both new and existing investment in both built and natural environments.
- They recognise that infrastructure design and construction today must incorporate the climactic conditions of tomorrow, the expected volatility and extremes already ‘baked in’ to our global systems
- They require that measures are taken in asset or project design, in construction or retrofits, that ensure the asset or project is 'fit for climate purpose' over its operating life
- They recognise that the definition of 'fit for purpose' must now automatically include climate resilience and adaptation measures, or that the project itself must increase the climate resilience of broader systems and networks within the built environment or natural ecosystems
Acting as a best practice guide, the CRP will become part of Climate Bonds Standard V3.0 and the process for Climate Bonds Certification of green bonds and other debt products. They will progressively flow into individual Sector Criteria through the existing Technical Working Group (TWG) process, building on those Sectors where climate resilience features already exist.
The CRP can be applied to new and existing investment in both built or natural environments with respect to hard infrastructure and supporting services.
All the recommendations within the CRP are aligned with the proposals on adaptation in the EU Taxonomy of Sustainable Finance.