Financing Framework for Water Security (LAC)
Closing the water security financing gap in Latin America and the Caribbean requires more than capital — it requires the institutional capacity to turn pressing needs into well-structured, bankable projects. This report applies the Financing Framework for Water Security (FFWS) to the LAC region, addressing one of its most urgent challenges: persistent gaps in water access and sustainability amid climate change, accelerating urbanization, and constrained financial resources. While the region has made progress on basic water and sanitation access, structural deficits continue to threaten the universal realization of the human right to safe water and sanitation, along with sustainability, equity, and resilience. Adapting the FFWS methodology — grounded in New Institutional Economics and systems thinking, and aligned with the UK's "five-case model" for public investment appraisal (strategic, economic, commercial, financial, and management) — the report offers a step-by-step process for governments, operators, the private sector, and civil society to co-build robust investment cases, design effective contractual arrangements, and strengthen governance, funding, and financing structures. In doing so, it bridges two critical gaps: between policymakers and technical experts, and between investment needs and existing financial mechanisms.
The report unfolds across six chapters, moving from diagnosis to action. After framing the regional context and rationale, it examines the implementation challenges and gaps standing in the way of regional water security, then analyzes shifts in the global and regional financial architecture. It explores emerging financing mechanisms — green and blue bonds, blended finance, water and carbon credits, and philanthropic capital — before turning to applied strategies for channeling climate finance at the local level, drawing on cases from Surat (India) and South Africa. The heart of the report details the regional application of the FFWS itself, illustrated through cases across LAC, before closing with recommendations for policy reform, institutional strengthening, and investment priorities. Taken together, the regional FFWS offers a practical, common-language roadmap for catalytically mobilizing public, private, and philanthropic capital — enabling transformative investments in water security across Latin America and the Caribbean.
Climate Finance Architecture Review: Leveraging Private Sector Investments in Adaptation
Private sector engagement in climate adaptation is essential — not only to close the implementation gaps in National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), but to secure the long-term financial sustainability of adaptation investments. This study takes a decade-long, multi-method look at international climate finance, analyzing the project portfolios and evolution of three multilateral climate funds between 2010 and 2020 — the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR), the Adaptation Fund, and the Green Climate Fund — alongside field research with the Green Climate Fund's Private Sector Facility and interviews with climate finance experts. The result is a cross-national view of how climate finance can be structured to unlock private investment in adaptation, despite the diversity of challenges involved in making adaptation projects investable.
Drawing on three pioneering private-sector adaptation projects from multilateral climate funds and four from multilateral development banks across Africa, Latin America, and Asia, together with nine public-private flood protection financing examples from the UK, the Netherlands, Australia, and Costa Rica, the paper offers insight into innovative financial structures, novel governance arrangements, and operational recommendations for donors, climate funds, the private sector, and governments. Combining systems thinking, New Institutional Economics, and case study research, it finds that most private-sector efforts to date have relied on financial intermediaries to lower the cost of capital — while systemic barriers like high transaction costs and the transition risks of unproven solutions, such as Nature-based Solutions, remain largely unaddressed by current programmatic approaches.
Mobilising Private Finance for Adaptation: The Case for a Fair Transition
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Handbook for the Implementation of Nature-based Solutions for Water Security
The Handbook for the Implementation of Nature-based Solutions for Water Security is a comprehensive guide designed to help stakeholders—NGOs, communities, and governments—develop investable, bankable projects by outlining robust financing, governance, and procurement strategies.
The handbook, developed under the EU NAIAD project, establishes a structured pathway for overcoming common barriers to public and private investment in Nature-based Solutions (NbS)