How do we make unbankable climate solutions bankable?

In an interview with Pioneers Post at the AVPN Global Conference 2026, Architesh Panda, Research Fellow at SEI Asia, discusses why climate adaptation must sit alongside economic development, and why finance needs to reach the communities living with climate impacts every day.

Panda highlights a persistent gap in global climate finance: adaptation solutions for vulnerable rural communities receive far less funding than mitigation, despite the increasingly immediate impacts of climate change. Many effective responses – including nature-based solutions, drought-resilient agriculture and community-led early-warning systems – do not generate the predictable financial returns that conventional investors seek.

“Most adaptation solutions are not bankable, they’re not investable,” Panda told Pioneers Post. “How do we make these unbankable climate solutions bankable? How do we build investment pipelines that benefit both the people and the organisations investing the money?”

This question is at the heart of SEI’s Inclusive Climate Finance for Vulnerable Communities in the Asia-Pacific (ICCAP) project. Funded by Germany’s International Climate Initiative, ICCAP works to channel public and private adaptation finance towards climate-vulnerable and marginalised groups. The project supports locally relevant, inclusive financial products and seeks to mobilise investment in practical climate-resilience solutions across six countries in Asia and the Pacific.

Panda also stresses that sustainable investment and economic development can reinforce one another. Building resilience into development decisions can help communities, businesses and financial institutions manage growing climate risks while creating more inclusive and durable economic opportunities.