Earlier this year, Adaptation Futures 2025, a flagship conference of the UN World Adaptation Science Programme (WASP) on climate change adaptation, gathered nearly 2000 voices from research, policy, civil society and the arts, to explore and accelerate action on climate adaptation globally.
Exhibition hall at Adaptation Futures 2025 in New Zealand. Photo: Mathilda Englund, SEI.
Scientists, policymakers and practitioners from over 100 countries met in Christchurch, New Zealand for the conference, the theme of which this year was “Accelerating Adaptation into Action”. SEI researchers contributed their expertise on subjects including climate finance, climate adaptation and knowledge co-production.
The Adaptation Futures conferences are crucial opportunities for researchers, governments and practitioners to gather and exchange knowledge on climate adaptation. The most recent conference in Christchurch particularly emphasized the experiences and needs of the Pacific and Indigenous peoples and small island states. This helps to redirect global adaptation attention toward those most severely affected by climate change and historically marginalized.
Åsa Gerger Swartling, head of SEI’s division Societies, Climate and Policy Support
SEI researchers presented on how existing frameworks could lead to better outcomes. SEI US centre director Ed Carr co-organized a panel discussion on adaptation and climate resilient development, tied to the interconnected work of the independent climate and biodiversity scientific bodies, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). The panel explored further interconnections and necessary actions for better adaptation, linked to both climate and biodiversity.
Mathilda Englund presented a poster featuring the Adaptation AGORA evaluation framework. This framework provides a comprehensive approach to monitoring, evaluation and learning of stakeholder and citizen engagement processes in climate adaptation. It evaluates four impact pathways: (1) relevant knowledge and action, (2) just representation and participation, (3) mutual learning and (4) sustained partnerships.
SEI's Mathilda Englund presenting poster from the EU Horizon project Adaptation Agora at the Adaptation Futures Conference 2025. Photo: Karin André, SEI.
Katherine Browne, Team Lead of SEI’s International Climate Risk and Adaptation Team, presented recent findings from the Green Climate Funds’s “Enhanced Direct Access” (EDA) pilot projects in Namibia and the eastern Caribbean.
“Distributive equity is a question of who gets what. In international adaptation finance, it is broadly agreed that those who are ‘particularly vulnerable’ to the impacts of climate change are the most deserving of financial support for climate adaptation,” Browne explained.
To date, most analysis of whether and how adaptation funding reaches those who are vulnerable has occurred at the global scale. Existing assessments of distributive equity within states focus largely on allocation of funding, rather than accounting for whether and how adaptation contributes to enhancing capabilities of marginalized groups, protecting human rights, and addressing the root causes of vulnerability.
“On the one hand, EDA projects have the potential to enhance distributive equity, as national governments are empowered to sub-grant and spread the benefits more broadly and enabling local leadership of initiatives. On the other hand, EDA approaches could enable inequitable distribution, as devolved decision-making power may enable national governments to exercise political decision-making in sub-grant allocation,” Browne said.
Browne contributed to a workshop on adaptation finance, organized by the International Institute of Environment and Development (IIED) and the University of Munich, where she presented on “Building the evidence base for locally led adaptation outcomes and effectiveness”. Discussions focused on the availability and types of evidence needed, along with how to measure the effectiveness of locally led adaptation.
“We have substantial evidence that locally led adaptation (LLA) approaches enable fairer and more procedurally just adaptation decision-making processes, but less clarity on whether LLA contributes to more effective adaptation outcomes, like building resilience, generating economic and creating social co-benefits,” Browne said.
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can become key actors in closing the gap that exists within climate change adaptation, the topic of a panel discussion led by Climate Connect Aotearoa. During the panel, Karin André, SEI Team Lead for Cities, Communities and Consumption, highlighted the crucial role of online platforms and networks such as ClimateWiseand SEI’s WeADAPT, one of the world’s leading and longest-running collaborative platforms for climate change adaptation.
“These platforms are incredibly valuable in bridging research and practice. Very often, they initiate crucial dialogues that lead to co-designed solutions for climate adaptation with important stakeholders that has power to achieve change on the ground,” said André.
The need for equal access of adaptation knowledge and information for all types of users, in particular SMEs and local communities, was also brought up as an important priority.
SEI also co-hosted a session with the International Network of Boundary Organizations on Adaptation (INBOA), exploring experiences and lessons learned from the challenges and unintended outcomes of knowledge co-production in climate adaptation. Experts discussed how co-production methods create both positive and negative impacts on adaptation action, in addition to the challenges and benefits of knowledge co-production. Ongoing climate adaptation work experiences were also shared by INBOA among the experts and through a panel discussion, chaired by Gerger Swartling.
Conclusions from this session included that inclusive and reflective co-production methods enable knowledge system integration building. This in turn builds trust and produces solutions that are both valid and practical. However, power imbalances, superficial involvement and conflicting expectations among participants can lead to unsuccessful outcomes.
The discussion highlighted that co-production commitments can only be met by specific actors when supported by careful consideration of process design, participant selection and approaches for validating diverse types of knowledge. Effective co-production processes need dedicated resources and extended time periods and participants who are willing to engage in challenging discussions about fairness, control and responsibility.
Key factors essential for success included fostering an environment that supports experimental learning and continuous improvement and acceptance of failure, panellists said; this way, more innovative solutions beyond traditional best practices can be created. The process of learning through practical experience and analysing unsuccessful approaches can help develop sustainable climate adaptation solutions that benefit everyone.
“Participants made a mutual commitment to continue sharing knowledge across boundaries, while simultaneously advancing a co-production practice that approaches uncertainty with both caution and determination,” concluded Gerger Swartling.
Adaptation actions can build and improve through sharing in person, on platforms, via scientific bodies and through other channels explored at this year’s conference.
Team Leader: Cities, Communities and Consumption; Senior Research Fellow
SEI Headquarters
Team Leader: International Climate Risk and Adaptation; Senior Research Fellow
SEI Headquarters
Press release / Adaptation finance needs of developing countries estimated to over US$310 billion per year by 2035, according to UNEP's Adaptation Gap Report 2025.
Other publication / UNEP’s Adaptation Gap Report 2025 finds that a gap in adaptation finance for developing countries is putting lives, livelihoods and entire economies at risk.
Project / Adaptation AGORA will support the adaptation to climate change by leveraging and step-forwarding best practices, innovative approaches and policy instruments.
Project / The project investigates procedural and distributive equity in decentralised adaptation finance under the Green Climate Fund’s EDA programme
SEI brief / This brief informs adaptation financiers, the broader community of adaptation scholars, and practitioners in their efforts to scale up support for LLA.
Feature / Watch SEI York researchers introduce different citizen science concepts and methods and explain how we are using them in our projects.
Feature / SEI and partners created a climate village at a historic arts festival in Hungary to bring youth views and artistic expression into climate policy discussions.
