Boost for Blended Finance Vehicles, EU Reports on Heat Preparedness, the Trouble with Sun-Reflecting Paint, and More

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Hi Climate Proofers, and welcome to all the new subscribers who joined over the weekend!

Old hands will notice a few changes in this edition of the Monday newsletter. First, I’m phasing out the use of AI-generated artwork for the cover image. This is for two reasons: one, because I’m conscious that these images are mostly based on the uncompensated labor of human illustrators; and two, because I’ve found it increasingly hard to generate pics that are fit-for-purpose. I’ll be experimenting with different image collages over the next few weeks. Let me know what you like (and don’t!) by replying to any Climate Proof newsletter.

Second, the ‘Other Stuff’ sections are now ‘In Brief’. Short summaries are provided for each highlighted story, so you can get the decision-useful information you need, faster. Again, let me know what you think of the change by email, Bluesky, or LinkedIn.

Thanks!

Louie Woodall
Editor

Finance:

• Climate Blended Finance Pioneers Win US$2mn in Grants

• US Invests US$2mn in Adaptation Research

• PG&E Touts Funding for Resilience Hubs

Policy:

• UN Court to Open Groundbreaking Climate Case

• EU Reports on State of Heat Preparedness

Tech:

• Sun-Reflecting Paint May Cause More Harm Than Good

• Algal Bloom-Fighting Tech Showcased in Maryland

Research:

• Another round-up of papers and journal articles on all things climate adaptation

Climate Blended Finance Pioneers Win US$2mn in Grants

Five climate finance “vehicles” for leveling up climate adaptation, biodiversity, and conservation in developing countries have won US$2mn in grants and technical assistance to test, structure, and launch new programs.

The Catalytic Climate Finance Facility (CC Facility) — a joint initiative of NGOs the Climate Policy Initiative and Convergence — supports “blended” solutions for scaling climate finance. These are public-private instruments used to drive more private capital into pro-climate projects. Over 240 vehicles lobbied for CC Facility support this year.

The winners include The Catalyst Fund, led by managing partner and Climate Proofer guest Maëlis Carraro. Its Resilience I vehicle, a US$40mn venture capital fund focused on pre-seed climate adaptation startups in Africa, is getting help from the CC Facility to build out its gender strategy and investor engagement plan, as well as its climate adaptation impact framework.

ADAPTA Climate Finance is another winner. This is a US$50mn debt facility that offers financing to smallholder farmers in Africa who embrace climate-resilient practices. Support from the CC Facility will be used to help scale its solutions and expand its reach across the continent. 

The other winners are: the Biodiversity Bridge Vehicle, Blue Alliance Blended Finance Vehicle, and the P-REC Aggregation Facility.

The CC Facility is funded largely by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Global Affairs Canada, and Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

US Invests US$2mn in Adaptation Research

Eight US research hubs have scored a collective US$2.4mn in grants to help climate-proof America.

The Climate Program Office, a unit of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is supplying the funds through its Adaptation Sciences program. The grant winners make up a who’s who of US universities, agencies, and NGOs, including The Nature Conservancy, Aspen Global Change Institute, and Columbia University.

The NOAA funds will support research across a number of areas. One project is focused on evaluating the outcomes of community-based coastal adaptation engagements. Another is exploring the practicality of climate-resilience planning tools. A third will unpack climate adaptation measures applied to housing in Alaska.

The Adaptation Sciences program was set up in 2021 to advance knowledge, methods, and frameworks to catalyze transformative adaptation measures that have economic and societal co-benefits.

PG&E Touts Funding for Resilience Hubs

Californian utility PG&E became a pariah in 2018 when faulty power lines owned by the company were found responsible for igniting a fatal and hugely destructive wildfire in the north of the Golden State.

The company filed for protection against its creditors in 2019 — the largest utility bankruptcy in US history — after being buried by around US$30bn of liabilities. It resurfaced as a going concern in 2020, but is still paying out millions in compensation to the fire’s victims, insurance companies, and the state of California itself.

As part of its public rehabilitation, PG&E has for the past four years offered grants to help communities set up ‘Resilience Hubs’, projects that can harden Californian people and places against climate risks. The latest US$400,000 grant round closes to applications on January 31. Seven proposals will be funded: four will get US$25,000 and three $100,000.

Past recipients include Mariposa County in the Sierra Nevada mountains, which is creating a hub to speed up disaster response in the area and supports climate adaptation, and Sonoma Applied Village Services, which is rolling out a mobile resilience hub to provide weather protection and food to Sonoma County’s homeless populations during extreme weather events.

This is the final year for which PG&E has put aside funding for the grant program.

In Brief

Anger at the US$300bn climate finance compromise struck at COP29 continues to boil over.  Dr. Rachel Cleetus, Policy Director and a lead economist for the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, called the deal “grossly insufficient” and hampered by an “unambitious timeline”. (Union of Concerned Scientists) Head of the Greenpeace delegation to COP29, Jasper Inventor, branded it “ woefully inadequate”. (Greenpeace) Elsewhere, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said the delivery of the promised finance was most important, and that it was “critical adaptation finance is scaled up”. (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies)

The Arab African International Bank (AAIB) has launched Egypt’s first sustainability bond, raising US$500mn with investments from the International Finance Corporation, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and British International Investment. The bond allocates 75% of its proceeds to green projects like energy efficiency and renewable energy, and 25% to social assets, including MSME (Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises) finance. The issuance is part of Egypt’s plan to build a greener, climate-resilient economy. (IFC)

The Biden-Harris administration announced a US$147.5mn investment to enhance the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) capabilities in supporting climate-ready fisheries. US$107.5mn is earmarked for modernizing NOAA’s science and data collection efforts, for example by rolling out cutting-edge technologies like uncrewed systems, remote sensing, and environmental DNA collection. US$40 million will fund the Climate, Ecosystems, and Fisheries Initiative, providing tools to communities and resource managers that help them adapt to changing marine ecosystems and build resilience against climate impacts. (NOAA)

The Climate Bonds Initiative’s latest Sustainable Debt Market Summary reports cumulative aligned GSS+ (green, social, sustainability, and sustainability-linked) debt issuance of US$5.4 trillion as of the end of Q3, driven by US$818.2bn of issuance year-to-date — an 11% increase over the same period in 2023. Green bonds remain dominant at 62% of total volume, with social bonds breaching the US$1trn mark and sustainability bonds nearing that milestone. Development banks and sovereigns played significant roles, with quarterly development bank issuance rising 120% year-on-year. (Climate Bonds Initiative)

The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) has issued a new discussion paper on how money managers can integrate its Physical Climate Risk Assessment Methodology (PCRAM) into their processes, from portfolio design to risk management. It includes info on how real estate and infrastructure investors can use PCRAM to identify opportunities in climate-resilient investments. (IIGCC)

UN Court to Open Groundbreaking Climate Case

It’s here — the largest legal case on climate change begins today (December 2) at the UN’s highest court.

Over a two-week hearing, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will hear arguments on states’ legal obligations to fight climate change from around 100 countries and an array of international organizations.

These will inform an “advisory opinion” of the court that will describe what countries have to do under international law to protect the climate and environment from human-induced warming, and what the legal consequences are for governments whose actions — or lack of actions — have contributed to climate harm.

Advisory opinions clarify points of international law. While non-binding on member states, these opinions count as authoritative legal documents and add moral weight to international calls for action. They may also be used as the basis for future climate lawsuits and to inform ongoing negotiations on who should shoulder the burden for combating global warming and its effects.

The opinion has potential knock-on implications for international adaptation and resilience efforts. For example, it could be used to prompt high-emitting countries to pay more into adaptation and loss and damage funds.

The ICJ hearing was set into motion last year, when the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution recognizing the scale of the climate challenge and calling on the ICJ to form an opinion on state’s obligations.

Pacific island nations spearheaded the resolution, led by the tiny state of Vanuatau, which is threatened by sea-level rise risks. 

“The ICJ Advisory Opinion has the potential to strengthen the Paris Agreement framework by clarifying the legal obligations of States under international law to act on climate change — obligations which have been disregarded for too long. This includes obligations to finance adaptation and mitigation in vulnerable countries and to address loss and damage. It could help close the glaring gaps in climate finance that COP29 once again left unresolved,” said Ralph Regenvanu, Special Envoy for Climate Change and Environment for Vanuatu.

The ICJ is expected to publish its opinion in the summer of 2025.

EU Reports on State of Heat Preparedness

Extreme heat is the top weather-related killer in Europe. More than 47,000 Europeans died from heat last year, and around 60,000 from blistering heatwaves in 2022. Yet many countries are not currently monitoring the health impacts of high temperatures —and fewer than half have heat-health action plans, a new report finds.

Out of 38 countries polled this year, the European Environment Agency (EEA) found that 17 have “surveillance systems” for heat-related health impacts. Four more countries are in the process of developing these systems, while three states said they had them in a 2019 survey. Moreover, just 12 out of 38 said they have heat-health action plans (HHAPs) in place at the national, regional, or local level. Ten countries have made no indication that any HHAPs are in progress. 

Countries vary in the amount and quality of data they collect on heat-related health impacts. Eight countries have heat-health early warning systems in place, according to the latest survey, and a further three were found to have these in the 2019 survey. For example, Portugal has the ÍCARO system, which produces a daily report with heat-related mortality predictions.

Presence of Heat-Health Action Plans In Europe

Thirteen countries collect near real-time data on heat-related deaths during high temperature events, like heatwaves, and seven collect heat-related morbidity info. Twelve countries say they consider the mortality and morbidity impacts of heat events retrospectively using data modelling techniques. 

“Data on the health impacts of heat is … essential for the long-term development of public health policies,” the EEA report says. “These data may help to ensure that climate adaptation measures — such as increasing the percentage of green space (in particular trees), improved building design, implementing district cooling systems or adapting working conditions to avoid heat – are prioritized.”

In Brief

The European Union released its first Biennial Transparency Report (BTR) at COP29, an important milestone under the Paris Agreement’s Enhanced Transparency Framework. The report highlights the EU’s progress in cutting emissions and the bloc’s contributions to climate finance. It also showcases the region’s efforts to develop a new Adaptation Strategy to build resilience against climate impacts. Twenty-six countries had submitted BTRs to the UNFCCC as  of December 1. The deadline for submissions is December 31. (European Commission)

A World Bank Group report underlines how climate change is exacerbating the vulnerabilities of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the Eastern Caribbean. The countries of Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines face escalating physical, economic, and social risks due to natural disasters and rising temperatures. They are also burdened by high adaptation costs — ranging from 1% to 11% of GDP annually — which they are largely unable to meet due to fiscal constraints and high debt loads. (World Bank Group)

Ecosystem health is critical to achieving resilience goals under the Sendai Framework, Paris Agreement, and Sustainable Development Goals, a policy briefing from the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction says. It highlights the reciprocal relationship between human and ecosystem vulnerability, showing how land-use changes and degradation worsen natural hazards. The brief calls for integrated approaches like nature-based solutions and stronger investments in resilient ecosystems to reduce disaster risks and bolster global resilience. (UNDRR)

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) ability to tackle mounting climate risks are limited by a lack of technical expertise and institutional capacity. During a COP29 panel hosted by the Caribbean Development Bank and partners, experts called for stronger partnerships, capacity-building, and streamlined access to climate finance to improve these countries’ adaptive capacity. (Caribbean Development Bank)

Sun-Reflecting Paint May Cause More Harm Than Good

Turns out a popular urban adaptation solution may not be all that.

Painting roofs white and coating paved surfaces with solar-reflective paint are two “land radiative management” (LRM) techniques that have shown promise in cooling urban areas. However, new research suggests they can heat up surrounding regions by disrupting weather patterns.

Put simply, while LRM can cool areas directly covered by these techniques, they can reduce rainfall inside and outside the affected zones. Without rain, soil is less moist — meaning there is less evaporation, a process that cools the air. Higher temperatures within LRM zones are offset by the reflection of sunlight. Non-LRM zones don’t have this benefit, however, and become hotter as a result.

The researchers suggest the heating effect to LRM zones is around 1-4 times greater than the cooling effect within the LRM zones. This is an example of maladaptation: an effort to combat climate impacts that backfires and causes more harm than good.

If LRM techniques are deployed by wealthy neighborhoods unilaterally, they could worsen heat inequality between poor and rich areas, the researchers say.

Algal Bloom-Fighting Tech Showcased in Maryland

Toxic algal blooms are a blight on America’s freshwater systems, shutting down swimming holes and endangering marine life. Tech is helping communities fight back.

The state of Maryland recently piloted an array of technologies for addressing algal blooms, phenomena which are becoming more common and dangerous as the climate heats up. Blooms occur when the population of microscopic algae in a body of water suddenly explodes. In high concentrations, this algae can cause illness in humans and animals alike. 

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources has been experimenting with tech-led ways to track how these blooms manifest and to break them up before they become dangerous. Last June, the department placed two souped-up buoys in Hunting Creek Lake, equipped with “sonicators” that use sound waves to disintegrate blooms before they form. They appear to be working — no toxic blooms have occurred this year at the lake. In 2023, dangerous blue-green algae forced officials to shut the lake over the Labor Day weekend.

Another innovation is the FlowCam Cyano, which allows scientists to identify different algae without using microscopes. This imager scans water samples using lasers, which can detect the fluorescent emissions from algae en masse. FlowCam is helping to build huge algae databases, information that can be used to identify and monitor algal blooms as they occur.

The PlanktoScope is a similar imaging technology to the FlowCam, but one that can be mounted onto a boat or truck for rapid deployment to algal danger zones. Maryland officials are using these tools to confirm algal bloom breakouts in the state’s parks and alert the relevant health and state authorities.

In Brief

Satellite data reveals that cities in the Global South have less green space — and thus lower cooling capacity — than their counterparts in the Global North, exacerbating vulnerability to extreme heat. Researchers using data from NASA and the US Geological Survey found that greenery cools Global South cities by an average of 4.5°F, compared to 6.5°F in the North. Their study highlights the potential to increase cooling capacity by up to 18°F through strategic urban planning, such as expanding green spaces, incorporating green roofs, and using reflective materials. (NASA)

SatVu, a thermal imaging startup, has raised £10mn (US$12.6mn) in equity to expand its constellation of satellites. The funding accelerates the 2025 launches of HotSat-2 and HotSat-3, which will provide near real-time, high-resolution thermal data to monitor energy efficiency, infrastructure, urban heat, and economic activity. The company also acquired a further £10mn via an insurance payout. (SatVu)

RESEARCH

Systematic mapping review of Australian research on climate change and health interventions (Australian Government: Department of Health and Aged Care)

Climate change and its influence on water systems increases the cost of electricity system decarbonization (Nature Communications)

Unexplained heat-wave ‘hotspots’ are popping up across the globe (Columbia Climate School)

Corals can adapt to warming oceans, but not fast enough — new research (The Conversation)

New AXA UK research reveals areas of England most vulnerable to extreme weather (AXA)

Projected increase in the frequency of extremely active Atlantic hurricane seasons (Science Advances)

Human dimensions of climate change adaptation: Gaps and knowledge frontiers (Dialogues on Climate Change)

Thanks for reading!

Louie Woodall
Editor