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How Carbon Markets Could Help Expand Affordable Housing Finance

Construction accounts for 37% of global CO2 emissions, yet millions of people in EMDEs lack access to affordable green housing. Carbon markets could lower green building material costs, while also breaking down barriers to inclusive housing finance and helping to scale access to affordable, eco-friendly homes.

Closing the Leadership Gap: DFIs and Climate Adaptation Finance

DFIs are uniquely positioned to lead on CAR finance, particularly through financial sector investments. But they are not yet playing that role. So, what is preventing them from leading?

Making Climate Adaptation Finance Work for All in Tanzania

Big banks are leading Tanzania’s climate finance, but adaptation must reach the front lines to be effective. For true inclusivity, climate capital must flow through local FSPs that serve the low-income and vulnerable communities most at risk.

How Can Scaling Inclusive Insurance Close Protection Gaps?

Protection gaps are about people, not just numbers. Here, we propose actionable pathways across customer-centric solutions, policy integration, and proportional regulation to make inclusive insurance viable.

Why DFIs Could Be the Secret Weapon in Scaling Adaptation Finance

Despite a surge in climate finance, adaptation and resilience (CAR) finance remains neglected. Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) are uniquely positioned to bridge this gap by leveraging their influence and expertise to strengthen financial systems.

Banking on Carbon: Inclusive Finance in Colombia

In Colombia, CGAP, Karbon-X, and Bancamía are exploring how inclusive financial services can support forest conservation and community impact. Learn how savings, loans, and digital payments can help households to build resilience without relying on deforestation.

In Sierra Leone, Inclusive Finance is Key to Protecting Coastlines

CGAP and West Africa Blue are linking financial inclusion with mangrove conservation in Sierra Leone, using VSLAs to strengthen livelihoods, reduce pressure on ecosystems, and support sustainable, community-led climate solutions.

The Most Undervalued Investment Class: Why Inclusive Adaptation Finance Deserves More Attention

Less than 1% of global climate finance is currently going toward community adaptation, leaving behind low-income households on the frontlines of climate change. Inclusive finance presents a solution, but it is not yet attracting the investment interest that it deserves. This blog explores how private sector involvement can help to close the inclusive finance gap, and what will be needed to ensure that private capital can move faster and reach further.

When Funders Unite: A Financing Stack for Climate Resilience

When it comes to resilience financing, there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’: different types of financial institutions need different things at different times. Here we unveil our ‘Climate Resilience Financing Stack’ – a vision for what a well-financed, climate-resilient, inclusive financial sector requires.

Physical Climate Risk Assessments: Understanding the Latest Resources 

Physical Climate Risk Assessments are essential for financial service providers to prepare for climate-related threats. There are now a range of open-source tools that can help. But with so many options, it can be hard to know where to start. We provide a run-down of the tools for FSPs and how to find the best fit.

Climate Risk Assessment: Three Questions FSPs Should Ask

As climate events become more frequent and intense, inclusive FSPs are increasingly being asked to conduct Physical Climate Risk Assessments (PCRAs) by regulators, investors, and other stakeholders. We suggest three key questions FSPs should ask to ensure that PCRAs support a resilient evolution.

How Can Inclusive FSPs Adapt to Climate Change With Win-Win Strategies?

The current climate responses of many financial service providers often result in one party losing out. But win-win is possible. This blog advises how inclusive FSPs can reorient their climate responses towards win-win outcomes for themselves and their customers.

Building Climate-Resilient Microfinance: Lessons from Pakistan

Here, we share three key lessons in resilience from Pakistan’s microfinance sector to help other microfinance institutions (MFIs) avoid climate change undermining their operations and commitment to driving financial inclusion.

New Data Show the Key Role of Inclusive Finance in Climate Adaptation

Our latest Findex blog takes a deep dive into Findex 2025 data at the intersection of climate shocks, resilience, and financial services, and underscores the vital importance of generating bottom-up data on climate adaptation.

Tailored and Systemic: Navigating Climate Risks With Market-Aligned Responses

Climate risks pose challenges for vulnerable communities, FSPs, and their supporters. Understanding these risks—and how public and private actors can respond—is key to advancing climate adaptation and building resilience.

Four Ways Funders Can Support Climate-Smart Women’s Financial Inclusion

Inclusive finance is a critical, yet underutilized, tool for supporting low-income women’s climate adaptation, and funders can play a key role by helping FSPs overcome key barriers to delivering climate-smart, gender-responsive financial products and services.

Financial Services are the Key to Gender-Inclusive Carbon Markets

As carbon markets evolve from niche climate interventions into a multi-billion-dollar industry, a critical truth is emerging: gender inclusion is no longer optional. It is essential to the permanence, equity, and scalability of carbon projects.

Is Climate Change Undermining Financial Inclusion? Early Evidence Says Yes

Early evidence from Pakistan confirms the need to shore up the financial institutions that serve vulnerable populations facing climate impacts, as climate risk threatens to undermine global progress on financial inclusion.

The Evidence of Credit and Insurance’s Role in Tackling Climate Change

Drawing on evidence to examine how financial services can advance climate action and other development outcomes, CGAP's Impact Pathfinder is a gateway to understanding what the existing evidence tells us, and knowledge gaps that need to be filled.

3 Opportunities for Funders at the Frontlines of Inclusive Carbon Markets

Based on CGAP’s conversations with funders and carbon project developers, this blog post explores the role of donors, development finance institutions, and impact investors in supporting inclusive carbon project innovation.