Background

Urbanization is transforming the socioeconomic and environmental landscape of ASEAN, with more than half of the region’s population now living in cities. Rapid urban growth is increasing pressure on infrastructure, widening development challenges, and amplifying climate risks. Coastal and fast-growing secondary cities are particularly vulnerable to floods, storms, and extreme heat. Without embedding climate resilience into urban planning and financing, these risks could undermine sustainable development.

ASEAN Member States (AMS) have made significant progress in integrating climate objectives into long term development planning through the ASEAN Working Group on Climate Change (AWGCC), ASEAN Working Group on Environmentally Sustainable Cities (AWGESC), the ASEAN Smart Cities Network (ASCN), Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), National Adaptation Plans, and alignment with the Sendai Framework. However, urban adaptation finance remains heavily centralized, with limited fiscal autonomy for cities. As a result, city-level adaptation needs are often underfunded, and existing financing mechanisms are insufficient to meet growing investment demands.

The CLARE–ASEAN initiative, Supporting Socially Inclusive Climate Adaptation and Resilience in ASEAN, is a grant-funded programme that advances socially inclusive urban climate resilience by bridging science, policy, and practice while strengthening Southern leadership and aligning research with ASEAN priorities.

This webinar, organized under the CLARE–ASEAN initiative, will present emerging evidence and regional experiences on financing urban adaptation. It will explore successful financing approaches, key implementation challenges, and opportunities for city governments, national governments, Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), and private investors to mobilize and scale investment in urban climate resilience.

Objectives

The webinar aims to bring together policymakers, practitioners and researchers development partners and the private sector to discuss the need for and evidence on financing adaptation and resilience in ASEAN cities and collectively identify policy and investment opportunities for scaling adaptation efforts in the region. Specifically, the webinar on ‘Financing a Climate-Resilient Future for ASEAN Cities: Pathways and Lessons’, aims to:

• Set the context for the imperative for financing urban adaptation and resilience with key insights and examples from the region
• Share key evidence on financing urban adaptation and resilience in the region, enabling factors such as policy, market movements, and innovative initiatives which shape its quality and volume.
• Facilitate dialogue on existing and new financing and implementation approaches for urban adaptation
• Identify policy and investment opportunities to scale urban climate adaptation finance across ASEAN.
  
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