The cost of climate change on infrastructure is incurred through direct damages to physical assets as well as indirect damages from disruptions to social and economic services delivered through physical assets.

GCA produces high-resolution climate risk analytics to understand the exposure of physical assets to climate change and related hazards, and then translates this exposure into operational metrics that can be used to quantify the risk for infrastructure investments. Combining state-of-the-art analytical tools, engineering expertise, global best practices, and lessons learned from countries that have already addressed climate risk in similar assets, we help identify and prioritize adaptation solutions into infrastructure investments in a participatory environment, promoting climate risk dialogues with key stakeholders in the country.

Nature-Based Solutions play a key role in enhancing the resilience of infrastructure systems. The investment case for adaptation solutions rests on whether the net-economic and financial return of the investment justifies the cost of implementation. Our goal is to develop specific analytical work that advances the scalability of Nature-Based Solutions for climate-resilient infrastructure systems all over the world.

While climate-proofing infrastructure assets is critical, countries also need to prioritize and sequence investments to allocate limited budgets effectively towards protecting existing infrastructure assets and ensuring that new assets are designed to be climate resilient. Prioritizing adaptation needs at a national scale is critical because countries cannot finance the cost of climate-proofing all infrastructure assets all at once.

GCA helps countries stress-test national infrastructure networks to quantify the consequences of exposure to climate risk through direct damages and indirect disruptions to services. The analysis of indirect disruptions includes a focus on women and vulnerable communities, who are affected by the disruption in infrastructure services in distinct ways. This analysis helps countries prioritize adaptation investments and influences the country investment pipelines of International Finance Institutions and other financing partners.

Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) are a key entry point for integrating climate adaptation and resilience into infrastructure projects. However, governments and practitioners lack the information to bring knowledge on PPPs and climate risks together to inform their projects.

The Masterclass aims to build the upstream capacity of practitioners to integrate climate resilience into infrastructure PPPs by identifying key entry points across the PPP project cycle for integrating resilience and providing tools and knowledge for practitioners. Masterclasses support capacity building in our projects, such as the African Development Bank-financed Uganda Rail Project and the Desert to Power Initiative. The delivery of Masterclasses is embedded through national university partners.

The Masterclass is a key component of the Knowledge Module on PPPs for Climate Resilient Infrastructure, developed by GCA together with the World Bank Group, African Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, European Investment Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Asian Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and other technical partners. Designed to build the capacity of PPP practitioners to mainstream adaptation and resilience into infrastructure PPP projects, the Knowledge Module also includes the Climate Resilient Infrastructure Handbook and the Certified Climate-Resilient Infrastructure Officer (CRIO) program.

We are providing upstream technical assistance and capacity-building programs in Africa and Bangladesh to integrate adaptation and resilience into PPP projects and transfer knowledge. This will drive long-term change in the systems that design and finance infrastructure investments.