Resources on Adaptation Financing
This tab includes resources on adaptation financing. Resources can be filtered by impact, sector, and region of the country.
61 results are shown below.
Resource
June 10, 2025
Connecticut Public Act No. 25-33, signed by the Governor on June 10, 2025, is a wide-reaching environmental and climate adaptation law that creates new standards and requirements for state and local government as well as the private sector. Sections 21-30 of the Act create a Resiliency Improvement District framework through which local governments can finance resilience projects.
Related Organizations: State of Connecticut
Resource Category: Law and Governance
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
November 2022
In November of 2022, New York voters approved the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act, which authorizes the creation of state debt and state bonds for “preserving, enhancing, and restoring” the natural resources of New York and reducing the impacts of climate change.
Related Organizations: State of New York
Resource Category: Law and Governance
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
June 16, 2022
The City of Charlotte, North Carolina is one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the country, and where the price of housing has increased exponentially in recent years. Like many large urban centers, Charlotte faces challenges in meeting the demands for affordable and available housing. In 2020, the Charlotte City Council adopted the Pilot Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing (NOAH) Rental Subsidy Program (“Pilot NOAH Program”) to help preserve some of the city’s over 20,000 units of housing that are considered naturally affordable, i.e., without the assistance of government subsidies. Under the Pilot NOAH Program, the city provides financial assistance to private developers who agree to keep the units affordable rather than rebuild them or raise rent, which may lead to the displacement of current residents. Working in tandem with private investors who help subsidize the initial acquisition of NOAH properties, the Pilot NOAH Program has been created to help preserve the city’s affordable housing stock. The preservation of NOAH housing is one component of Charlotte’s broader strategy for preserving and creating affordable housing for low-and moderate-income residents, and can be illustrative for cities that seek to leverage additional public-private partnerships to improve housing affordability and availability in their jurisdictions. This case study is one of 24 case studies featured in a report written by the Georgetown Climate Center, Greauxing Resilience at Home: A Collection of Lessons and Case Studies from Louisiana and Beyond.
Related Organizations: Georgetown Climate Center
Resource Category: Solutions
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
October 13, 2021
The Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game Division of Ecological Restoration (MDER) addresses the impacts of sea level rise, increased storm surge, and more frequent and severe flooding of coastal rivers through guidance and support of climate adaptation projects in coastal communities. Through its Priority Projects Program, MDER provides technical and financial assistance to local partners such as municipalities, landowners, and agencies to plan and implement projects that incorporate climate adaptation into habitat restoration. Example projects include dam removals, culvert upgrades, and salt marsh restoration, among others.
Related Organizations: Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game
Author or Affiliated User: Sally Ann Sims
Resource Category: Solutions
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
2020
In recent years, Seattle Public Utilities (SPU), which is the city’s water utility and provides drinking water and wastewater treatment, has strongly emphasized community engagement and equity issues through the creation of a variety of organizations and programs. One organization, Connect Capital, which is comprised of SPU staff and members of a community foundation and a community organization, advises SPU on how to ensure that the benefits of future investments are equitable and address climate threats to those at risk of displacement. One result of Connect Capital’s encouragement is SPU’s investment in infrastructure in frontline communities, such as the South Park Neighborhood. Another equitable initiative under SPU is the Utility Discount Program, under which seniors, persons with disabilities, and low-income customers receive a reduction in their water and electricity bills. Households with incomes at or below 70% of state median income pay only 50% of their SPU bill. Further still, SPU’s Environmental Justice and Service Equity Division aims to promote inclusive community engagement and collaboration.
Related Organizations: Seattle Public Utilities
Resource Category: Solutions
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
June 11, 2019
In June 2019, the Norfolk City Council adopted a policy authorizing the creation of Special Service Districts (SSD) to support implementation of local flood risk reduction and water quality improvement projects in the City of Norfolk, Virginia. SSDs enable a group of residents to agree to pay a tax to finance additional services in a particular neighborhood. The Norfolk policy allows SSD funding to be used to pay for flood mitigation, dredging, water quality improvements, and coastal protection projects.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
March 2019
The Opportunity Zones (OZ) program, created by the federal Opportunity Act as a part of the 2017 Tax Act, delegates to the U.S. Treasury the authority to set requirements for investment under the act’s tax credit system. The Kresge Foundation, seeing that Treasury requirements were first delayed and ultimately bare, set out to create its own set of guidelines. Kresge provides capitalization to projects in OZs to attract investment, and through covenants with its partners attempts to ensure that such investments are based in a framework of equity. Within a specific OZ, these covenants include stringent reporting requirements, the creation of a community advisory board explicitly containing members of the OZ’s community, and active promotion of OZ programs to OZ residents. Additionally, Kresge set out minimum standards for both real estate and business investments. Covenants for real estate investments include specifics such as: adopting an “anti-displacement” strategy for all housing investments, shifting focus to projects that create jobs for low-income communities, and mandating that at least 50% of all multifamily housing investments serve residents with incomes under 120% of the OZ’s average median income. For business investments, covenants include requirements that at least 50% of investments create living-wage jobs, and prohibitions on investments in industries that could be harmful to disadvantaged communities and typically create environmental justice issues. (e.g. oil, mining, firearms).
Related Organizations: The Kresge Foundation
Resource Category: Solutions
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
In 2009, the Chicago 49th Ward Alderman, Joe Moore launched the first participatory budgeting process in the United States in the City of Chicago, Illinois. When participatory budgeting was first introduced in the City, Alderman Moore used the process to engage with his constituents regarding how the community would spend its $1.3 million in discretionary capital funds. Since this initial introduction, the participatory budgeting process in Chicago has proved a rousing success. In 2012, the Great Cities Institute partnered with the Participatory Budgeting Project and community-leaders from the area to launch PB Chicago to spread the budgeting process throughout the city. PB Chicago has now engaged with over 13,000 residents in 12 different communities, allocating over $18 million in funding to community-chosen projects varying from tree planting to establishing bike lanes. By focusing a majority of their outreach on marginalized and underserved communities, PB Chicago ensures not only that policymakers and city officials hear these residents’ voices, but that these same voices have the opportunity to effectuate change within their own communities as well.
Related Organizations: City of Chicago, Illinois, PB Chicago
Resource Category: Funding
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
April 2018
Financing Climate Resilience was developed by the University of Massachusetts Sustainable Solutions Lab to help the City of Boston identify proactive strategies for financing investments in flood protection and other climate-related risks. The report details the scale of the climate resilience investments needed to reduce climate risks in Boston, estimating that between $1 and $2. 4 billion in investment will be needed in the medium-term to protect the City from climate change impacts. The report examines a range of financing mechanisms that the City could use including bonds, taxes, resilience fees (e.
Related Organizations: University of Massachusetts, Boston, Boston Green Ribbon Commission
Authors or Affiliated Users: David Levy, Rebecca Herst
Resource Category: Funding
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
October 11, 2017
The California legislature passed AB 733 specifically authorizing the creation of enhanced infrastructure financing districts for climate change adaptation projects, and the legislation was signed into law by Governor Brown on October 11, 2017.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
