Trump’s USAID Purge Puts Global Adaptation Finance in Freefall

TL;DR

• President Trump and Elon Musk’s gutting of USAID has halted millions in adaptation finance, threatening key grants, loans, and investments aimed at climate resilience.

• USAID was the top blended finance investor for adaptation from 2021-2023 by deal count, according to Convergence, and its retreat from the world stage has thrown hundreds of adaptation startups, consultancies, and NGOs into uncertainty.

• Major USAID partners on adaptation like Tetra Tech, Abt, and Chemonics face disruptions, with contracts worth millions likely to cease and hundreds of US and overseas jobs lost.

• Innovative adaptation finance projects including Climate Bonds Initiative’s Resilience Taxonomy, and The Lightsmith Group’s SCALE initiative are also losing out.

Become a paying subscriber of Premium to get access to this post and other subscriber-only content.

Already a paying subscriber? Sign In.

A subscription gets you:

• • TWO articles a week
• • Access to every single article in the archives
• • Access to S&P 500 Climate Physical Risk Signals
• • Early access to special events and new products