Project summary
Australia is unprepared for the scale of investment needed to adapt homes, businesses and infrastructure to a changing climate. While the Federal Government has committed more than $40 billion to emissions reduction and is leveraging billions more in private capital, comparable investment in climate adaptation is almost non-existent. Most existing projects are designed to access government grants, not finance, and there are no frameworks to mobilise private capital for adaptation in the built environment, even though this is expected to be the largest area of future investment. My project will investigate how other developed countries are designing adaptation finance mechanisms that embed consumer and equity goals from the outset. By learning from the UK’s emerging models and bringing those lessons back to Australia, I aim to help shape policies and financial structures that accelerate investment in climate-ready homes and businesses while protecting consumers from worsening climate risks.