Private sector investing in resilience building

UNDRR along with the Dubai Resilience Hub and MCR2030 convened experts and partners to discuss and address issues relating to urban resilience at the Global Resilience Forum in Dubai. UNDRR Deputy Chief, Intergovernmental processes, Interagency cooperation and Partnerships Branch, Abhilash Panda, joined a moderated discussion on Data-Driven Decision-Making for Resilient Cities: ESG Investment, Bonds and Financing Resilient Infrastructure where he shared how the private sector can play a crucial role in financing and directing investments for disaster risk reduction. 

The Sendai Framework identifies investing in disaster risk reduction as one of its four priority actions. UNDRR’s work on financing focuses around supporting countries in accessing more financing for prevention, while at the same time, helping the public and private sectors to de-risk investments and reorient financial flows for increased resilience. 

Abhilash emphasized that “capital markets must play a greater role in terms of resilience finance, but this requires investors to be able to assess, categorize, and align their investments with resiliency goals.” To enable risk-informed decisions, UNDRR has developed two taxonomies aimed at helping the public and private sectors to channel financial flows towards resilience-building measures and risk prevention. These taxonomies serve as a reference point for investors and policymakers and can help build the data required to guide their decision making. 

The Climate Resilience Classification Framework can help facilitate the issuance of resilience bonds while the UNDRR Design guide for budget tagging and tracking of CCA and DRR can help governments identify gaps and prioritize resources.