New Climate Resilience Investment Framework, 83% of USAID Projects Scrapped, Canadian Adaptation Tech Accelerator, and More

Finance:

• Climate United Sues EPA Over Green Funding Freeze

• Investor Group Debuts Climate Resilience Framework

• Climate Finance Lab Puts Adaptation Innovations to the Test

Policy:

• Four-Fifths Of USAID Programs Scrapped, Says Rubio

• Cuts to US Climate Agency Deepen

Tech:

• Canadian Accelerator to Fast-Track Climate Adaptation Technologies

• AI Crop Startup Avalo Raises US$11mn to Climate Proof Sugarcane

Research:

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

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Climate United Sues EPA Over Green Funding Freeze

Nonprofit Climate United filed a lawsuit against the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Citibank on Saturday, alleging the illegal withholding of billions in grants for climate mitigation and resilience activities.

The action escalates a dispute between a host of climate groups, the US agency, and the Wall Street lender, which started when EPA head Lee Zeldin moved to claw back some US$20bn in grants obligated from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) — a Biden-era initiative aimed at financing projects that cut climate pollution and build resilience against climate shocks. Federal dollars for the GGRF were appropriated under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act and moved to the recipients’ accounts at Citibank late last year. 

Climate United was granted nearly US$7bn to invest in climate mitigation and resiliency projects. Some of the funds were earmarked for infrastructure upgrades to harden communities against extreme weather and natural disasters.

The nonprofit and other GGRF awardees say they have been unable to access funds from Citibank for three weeks, delaying critical projects and threatening payroll. They claim to have received no explanation from the EPA or Citibank “despite numerous formal inquiries.”

“This isn’t about politics; it’s about economics,” said Beth Bafford, CEO of Climate United, on the filing of the lawsuit. “This program was designed to save money for hard-working Americans who are struggling to pay for groceries and keep the lights on.  We’re going to court for the communities we serve — not because we want to, but because we have to.” 

An EPA spokesperson told the New York Times that it “does not comment on any pending litigation.”

Investor Group Debuts Climate Resilience Framework

Pension funds and asset owners are being asked to scrutinize a new framework aimed at channeling private finance into climate resilience and adaptation.

The Climate Resilience Investment Framework, unveiled by the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) last week, is supposed to help firms understand how climate risks can affect financial returns and reduce their impact on investment portfolios. It is open for consultation through April 10.

The framework (also known as ‘CRIF’) is built on the Physical Climate Risk Assessment Methodology (PCRAM), another IIGCC innovation, which offers a simple, replicable process for identifying and addressing climate hazards to particular assets. It recommends investors run climate studies of prospective investments, determine the materiality of identified climate risks, and craft resilience-building solutions that can reduce their vulnerability.

The CRIF sets out six criteria for assessing the maturity of a prospective investment’s efforts to manage physical climate risks, ranging from “Ambition” — a simple statement of intent to manage risks — to “Capital allocation alignment”, a state where appropriate resources are earmarked to implement adaptation actions. There’s also specific guidance on aligning real estate and infrastructure assets to value-preserving “adaptation pathways”.

The Physical Climate Risk Assessment Methodology (PCRAM) Process

CRIF further lays out how investors can put together their own adaptation and resilience plans, so that physical climate risk management becomes embedded in their day-to-day business activities. The overarching idea is to make climate resilience a ‘lens’ through which institutions view all their financing activities, similar to how the IIGCC’s 2021 Net Zero Investment Framework was designed to help investors fulfill their net-zero targets.

The IIGCC is not a rulemaking body. While investors adopting the CRIF are expected to take an “implement or explain” approach to its particulars, it is a voluntary framework and does not introduce new reporting requirements or force institutions to adhere to specific standards.  

Climate Finance Lab Puts Adaptation Innovations to the Test

Nine new climate financing solutions will be road-tested by the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance, a public-private partnership that works to channel billions to adaptation and mitigation projects in emerging markets. 

Announced today (Monday), the chosen solutions include a Parametric Insurance and Trust Fund for Colombia’s Páramos ecosystem, designed to rapidly deliver funding for wildfire damage and human-caused nature degradation, and a Tropical Resilience Fund, a planned US$100mn vehicle for investing in landscape resilience, rural and coastal resilient businesses, and food security. Overall, six of the nine projects have a clear adaptation and resilience orientation.

Each innovation will be subjected to seven months of what the Lab calls “stress testing”, and receive technical support and guidance from the group’s network of public and private investors. At the end of the process they are eligible for US$250,000 grants to implement their ideas.

The Lab says it has launched 78 new climate finance solutions to date, which have collectively mobilized US$4.2bn of public and private finance for emerging markets.  

In Brief

The US has withdrawn from the board of the UN’s Loss and Damage fund, which finances climate disaster recovery efforts in vulnerable countries. The move aligns with the broader rollback of US engagement in global climate efforts under President Trump, including exiting the Paris Agreement and rescinding finance pledged to the Green Climate Fund. It is uncertain whether the US will honor its US$17.5mn commitment to the Loss and Damage fund, which is set to begin financing projects this year. (Reuters)

Delegates at an extended session of the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP16), held in Rome, agreed to channel US$200bn annually by 2030 towards biodiversity protection, including US$20bn each year for conservation in developing nations by 2025, rising to US$30bn by 2030. The meeting also launched the Cali Fund, which encourages industries benefiting from data from genetic resources found in nature to contribute to its conservation. These commitments advance the Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted by countries in 2022, which aims to protect 30% of the planet and 30% of degraded ecosystems by 2030. The initial COP16 meeting, held in Colombia last year, was suspended without agreement once talks went into overtime and delegates left the conference (Convention on Biological Diversity)

Four-Fifths Of USAID Programs Scrapped, Says Rubio

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that 83% of projects run by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) are being cancelled, following a six-week review of its operations ordered by President Trump. USAID was a top provider of overseas adaptation investment in the period 2021-2023.

In a statement on X, the social media platform owned by Trump booster and world’s richest man, Elon Musk, Rubio said the 5,200 contracts being torn up “spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States.” He did not elaborate on how these programs hurt the US. Experts say gutting USAID works against US efforts to prevent conflicts overseas, encourage economic growth, and limit migration to North America.

Many USAID contracts supported adaptation and resilience overseas, including the Climate Adaptation Support Activity (CASA) — a program that promoted “effective adaptation mainstreaming, programming, and scaling meaningful change”. The CASA contract was one of those dissolved under the review.

In his statement, Rubio added that the remaining programs, around 1,000 total, would be administered by the State Department. He thanked the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a body effectively controlled by Elon Musk, for its efforts conducting the review. DOGE staffers have been embedded within multiple agencies since Trump’s inauguration, taking control of computer systems and arranging mass firings — often illegally.

Cuts to US Climate Agency Deepen

The Trump administration plans to layoff an additional 1,000 staffers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) according to reporting by the New York Times, cuts that could further undermine the agency’s ability to produce reliable climate and extreme weather data.

The new round of firings would come on top of the 1,300 or so layoffs and resignations that have rocked the climate and weather agency since Trump’s inauguration. The cutbacks are part of the president’s wider effort to shrink the federal workforce through the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The Times says NOAA managers have until Tuesday to submit layoff proposals. The scale of cuts likely means some agency functions will be shuttered, including those essential to US climate risk management and resilience. 

On February 26, the Union of Concerned Scientists delivered an open letter signed by over 2,500 scientific experts to Howard Lutnick, secretary of the Commerce Department that houses NOAA, urging him to maintain staffing and funding levels at the agency. “Undermining the ability of scientists at NOAA to produce independent, world-class science will lead to devastating impacts on the United States and global climate and weather research community. These kinds of harms to NOAA would affect people around the world who depend on this life-saving information,” the letter reads.

Last week, NOAA published an article highlighting the ways in which the agency’s research improves US weather forecasts, particularly in relation to hurricanes, severe storms and tornadoes, and water scarcity.

In Brief

President Trump’s pick to head the Environment Protection Agency’s Air and Radiation Office, Aaron Szabo, told senators that the US has to adapt to climate change, and deflected on the topic of mitigation. “I believe that the climate is changing. I believe that it is important for us to adapt to any change, including those that occur with respect to climate,” he said when questioned by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat from Rhode Island. (The Hill)

The UK’s agriculture sector faces heightened vulnerability from climate change, with warmer, drier conditions, extreme rainfall, and flooding threatening farm assets and productivity, according to a Climate Change Adaptation report from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, a UK public body. It urges farmers to assess their businesses and adapt, highlighting both risks — like soil erosion and crop loss — and opportunities, such as cultivating new crops and reducing livestock housing costs. (Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board)

Canadian Accelerator to Fast-Track Climate Adaptation Technologies

Foresight Canada, the country’s largest cleantech accelerator, has launched Earth Tech: Adapt, a nine-month program for startups that shield industries, communities, and ecosystems from climate impacts.

Analysis from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and the Insurance Bureau of Canada suggests that addressing the worst climate impacts to the country will require CAD$5.3bn (US$3.7bn) annually, but adds that every $1 invested today can save $6 in future losses.

The Earth Tech: Adapt program aims to equip early-stage companies with expert mentorship, access to industry partnerships, and help acquiring capital. Areas of focus include wildfire mitigation, flood prevention, and grid resilience. Companies with solutions that have market demand, potential to scale, and a “clear path to widespread adoption” are encouraged to apply. 

AI Crop Startup Avalo Raises US$11mn to Climate Proof Sugarcane

Avalo, a North Carolina-based startup, has secured US$11mn in Series A funding to advance its AI-powered platform for developing climate-resilient crops. The raise, first reported by AgFunderNews, was co-led by Germin8 Ventures and Alexandria Venture Investments, with participation from Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) and others. 

Avalo will use the funds to bring climate-resilient crop breeds to market faster, starting with sugarcane and cotton varieties that can grow with less nitrogen fertilizer and water. A partnership with CCEP — linked to the global soda giant Coca-Cola – will focus on transforming sugarcane production. 

Avalo’s tech allows it to pinpoint plant genes responsible for traits such as drought and pest resistance, significantly reducing breeding cycles from over a decade to as few as five to six years. 

The company is using its predictive models to accelerate traditional breeding programs for now, but may expand into informing gene editing applications in the future. 

In Brief

The Singapore Land Authority (SLA) has announced two strategic partnerships to leverage space-based technologies for climate mitigation and adaptation. The first is a collaboration with the Office for Space Technology and Industry (OSTIn) to support the newly launched Earth Observation Initiative (EOI) and promote wider use of geospatial data for improved climate forecasting and sustainability decision-making. A second partnership with the National University of Singapore Centre for Remote Imaging, Sensing and Processing (NUS CRISP) is intended to advance research in remote sensing and geospatial applications. This includes an effort to integrate SLA’s 3D mapping data and CRISP’s satellite imaging for improved environmental monitoring and coastal protection. (Government of Singapore)

Skylo Technologies, a company supporting direct-to-device satellite connectivity, has secured US$30mn to expand its operations and accelerate service expansion to Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand. Skylo’s tech allows smartphones, vehicles, and IoT devices to access satellite data in cellular coverage deserts, enhancing connectivity for the maritime, agriculture, and emergency response sectors. The company claims that in the US alone, Skylo-enabled smartphones recently allowed dozens of users to request help during natural disasters, including wildfires and extreme storms, when terrestrial networks were unavailable. (Skylo)

AtmoCooling, a climate tech company that creates cooler microclimates in desert regions to support farming, has raised US$2.6mn in pre-seed funding. The Abu Dhabi-based company plans to evaporate seawater and disperse the droplets over arid regions to lower ambient temperatures, thereby making them suitable for food production and sustainable development. The funding will support pilot projects and strategic partnerships to scale impact and enhance climate resilience in desert regions. The funding round was co-led by Nucleus Capital and Revent Ventures, with participation from Marble, Unruly, Founders Factory Blue Action, Patrick Tilley, SwiftScale, Bronco Ventures, and Hub71, among others. (EIN Presswire)

RESEARCH

Tropical forests in the Americas are changing too slowly to track climate change (Science)

Studies on adaptive capacity to climate change: a synthesis of changing concepts, dimensions, and indicators (Humanities and Social Sciences Communications)

Evaporative coolers and wildfire smoke exposure: a climate justice issue in hot, dry regions (Frontiers in Public Health)

Desalination market size and share analysis – growth trends and forecast report 2025-2033 (Research and Markets)

Thanks for reading!

Louie Woodall
Editor