Adapting funding to fund adaptation: Tales from Manila

The ClimateReady Podcast: Adapting to Climate Change & Uncertainty

How can we know if a climate adaptation project will be effective and useful? Unlike mitigation and meeting emission reduction targets, adaptation measures are often open to interpretation. Yet institutions funding these efforts are expected to use standard evaluation criteria to distinguish between options and maximize impact and return on investment. In this episode of the ClimateReady Podcast, we talk with a global expert from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) who also happens to have a background with the UNFCCC -- giving her policy, operational, and investment insights. Xianfu Lu is the ADB’s focal point for climate change adaptation and she schools us about how finance institutions are influencing adaptation projects, as well as how investment is shaped by climate and development policies. We also learn about the perception of climate change in Asia in contrast to other regions. Following the main interview, we have a “Postcard from the Future” featuring Kathryn Pharr, a researcher at the University of Oxford, who brings us a message from a popular environmental superhero of the 1990s.