How can India leverage private investment for climate adaptation?

Mobilising increased private sector investment in adaptation in India presents an opportunity to deliver not just commercial returns, but also a significant direct impact on the lives and livelihoods of vulnerable communities across the country.

Adaptation finance needs to increase by 10-18 times, to reach the AUD 328-690 billion required to help low-and middle-income countries adapt to the impact of climate change. Public sector investment in adaptation is not sufficient and the private sector will need to design and deliver the adaptation products and services that the world needs. 

We studied 77 adaptation ‘solutions’ in India to estimate the market size and investment potential in adaptation such as:

• rainwater harvesting
• cold storage 
• hydroponics.

This highlighted a range of financial, policy, information and technology barriers holding back investment and we explored wider experience and learning on how to address these barriers. We organised the adaptation solutions in terms of their investment ‘readiness’ and set out actions that governments and funders can take to mobilise increased private investment. 

Read the full working paper here.