Climate Adaptation

The urgency with which people worldwide must adapt to climate change is unmistakable. Events such as the Ahr Valley flood disaster in North Rhine-Westphalia, the severe drought-induced hunger crisis in East Africa in 2024, or the increasingly destructive tropical storms in the United States and East Asia highlight this development. It was no coincidence that UN Secretary-General Guterres in 2021 called for 50% of climate finance to be dedicated to adaptation measures.

We support national and international institutions in optimizing their adaptation projects and programs through evaluations. Our evaluations cover a wide range of adaptation-related initiatives, from ecosystem-based adaptation measures to sustainable rural development and financing mechanisms. Our work on climate change adaptation includes projects across various ecosystems, including cities, coasts, and forests. Through our evaluations, we enable decision-makers to implement their projects more efficiently, effectively, and with greater impact.

In our evaluations, we pay particular attention to whether measures appropriately address the specific challenges of climate change and contribute to sustainable adaptation processes. We attach great importance not only to engaging with project implementers but also with those who are meant to benefit from the projects. One example is the evaluation of the IKI project Scaling-up ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) measures in rural Latin America. This project focused on strengthening the resilience of vulnerable communities and ecosystems in rural areas of Central and South America.

In our program evaluations, we examine strategic orientations—whether the goals of adaptation portfolios of organizations have been achieved and which factors contributed to the outcomes. Drawing on diverse evaluations in this area (including UNEP’s Climate Change Programme, the Initiative for Climate Action Transparency (ICAT), and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s [EBRD] Green Cities Programme), we identify both positive and negative aspects and develop evidence-based recommendations for future directions.

We also advise national and international institutions in the selection of adaptation projects. In addition to the IKI, for instance, we supported the C40 Cities Finance Facility (CFF) in the assessment of project proposals. The CFF helps 40 cities in emerging economies and developing countries design and implement sustainable adaptation and climate protection projects.