Driving investment and change: Financing climate resilience in the built environment

Resilient cities: The future is now

In a cross-industry roundtable, hosted by Cripps, leaders across real-estate, urban planning, investment, infrastructure and insurance convened to confront the realities of climate risk and chart practical, scalable pathways needed to future-proof our cities and safeguard asset value.

Using the framework of The London Climate Resilience Review (2024), participants explored pathways for action across three key areas identified in the report:

• Blue and green infrastructure – The natural solution – unlocking the power of nature in city design and climate adaptation
• New development and retrofit – Rethinking resilience: Why London’s planning system must catch up with it’s ambitions
• Investing for change – See article below

Climate resilience is no longer a distant ambition – it is an immediate commercial, social and environmental imperative. Yet, while the risks are growing sharper, our funding models remain fragmented, short-term and often ill-suited to the long-term challenges of adaptation. If London and other global cities are to future-proof infrastructure, safeguard asset value and ensure communities can thrive, then new approaches to investment must take centre stage.

At our recent Resilient Cities roundtable at The Conduit with leaders from real estate, finance, design and policy, the discussion turned to one of the most pressing questions: how can we unlock investment and drive systemic change?

Scaling up investment in resilient infrastructure

A recurring challenge raised in the discussion was that funding tends to flow towards high-profile builds and final delivery, rather than the less visible but equally critical stages of planning, modelling, and long-term management. Without resources for these foundations, many projects never reach investment readiness or fail to deliver sustained resilience once complete.

Participants also noted the complexity of today’s fragmented landscape of funding pots, each with different criteria and timelines. A more effective approach would be a single body or framework for resilience funding, applying consistent criteria across projects, to provide clarity, reduce duplication, and give investors confidence.

Finance mechanisms that recognise the full lifecycle of resilience projects – from early-stage design through to operation and long-term stewardship – are essential. Blended finance models, pooled city-region funds, and innovative tools such as green or resilience bonds could help shift the balance, ensuring that capital supports not just construction, but also the systems that keep assets working for decades to come.

The role of insurers and investors

A recurring theme was the untapped potential of the insurance sector. By pricing risk more transparently and embedding sustainability into underwriting, insurers could act not only as risk managers but also as partners in investment and governance.

The value for insurers is not in “reducing risk” – which ultimately limits their income – but in creating new opportunities to underwrite and finance resilience itself. Resilience-linked products, innovative financing models, and partnerships that tie insurance to long-term asset performance are all ways the sector can adapt to a changing climate.

For example, Howden is already working with a hotel operator in the Caribbean on “blue infrastructure” investments, where insurance is linked to the performance of marine ecosystems that protect coastal assets. This model positions insurers not simply as payers of last resort but as active enablers of resilience, aligning their products with the long-term viability of the assets they insure.

For investors, the risks of inaction are stark. The looming end of government-backed flood insurance schemes in the 2030s will leave many UK homes and businesses uninsurable unless adaptation is embedded upfront. Underpricing risk creates moral hazards and undermines asset liquidity. By contrast, portfolios built around resilient assets are more attractive to lenders, tenants and insurers alike – turning adaptation into a marker of long-term value.

Policy as the enabler

The London Climate Resilience Review provides a clear message: a stable and predictable policy environment is an essential precondition for investment. Scandinavian countries, for example, have successfully created conditions that give investors confidence in long-term returns. In contrast, shifting UK legislation, misaligned regulations and short-lived policy initiatives undermine investor confidence and stall progress.

The Review calls for:

• Updated resilience and technical standards to guide infrastructure investment.
• Taxation and financial incentives that encourage climate-resilient choices (e.g. reduced VAT on resilient upgrades).
• Market-based mechanisms, such as stormwater charges or tradable credits for sustainable drainage.
• Stronger devolution of funding and responsibilities to local authorities, matched with long-term statutory duties.

Building on this, The Conduit’s Solutions Agenda stresses the importance of aligning insurance, finance and city planning to unlock resilience investment.

What needs to happen next:

• Introduce resilience-linked regulation for insurers, rewarding adaptation in premiums and underwriting.
• Support lifecycle funding models that cover planning, modelling and long-term management, not just final builds.
• Strengthen building standards and retrofit requirements to embed resilience across the property sector.
• Provide blended finance tools (e.g. green or resilience bonds) underpinned by public guarantees to de-risk private capital.
• Ensure local government has long-term, predictable funding and the statutory duties to deliver adaptation.