FS Impact Finance and Frankfurt School launch Resilient Infrastructure Fund project to mobilise private capital for climate adaptation

Frankfurt am Main / Nairobi – FS Impact Finance, Frankfurt School of Finance & Management and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) have officially launched the implementation phase of the Resilient Infrastructure Fund (RIF) project.

RIF is designed to mobilise private capital into long-term debt investments that strengthen the climate resilience of existing infrastructure in emerging and developing economies. Climate change is increasing physical risks to essential infrastructure, including transport, energy and water systems. Yet many resilience investments remain difficult to finance, even where they are technically sound and economically justified. RIF is being developed to address this gap.

The project is supported by a US$1.59 million grant funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) through its Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF), with UNEP serving as the GEF Implementing Agency and Frankfurt School of Finance & Management as the Executing Entity. FS Impact Finance will lead the development of the RIF investment strategy and pipeline, fund structure and investor proposition, supported by Frankfurt School’s climate finance and technical expertise.

RIF will apply established infrastructure-finance principles to resilience investment in existing infrastructure. Working with infrastructure owners and operators, RIF will turn clearly defined resilience investment needs into financeable long-term debt opportunities. These may include the rehabilitation, upgrading or strengthening of existing assets where financing constraints can leave otherwise viable resilience investments underserved.

RIF will make resilience investment identifiable, financeable, measurable and repeatable within mainstream infrastructure finance.

“There is significant demand for climate adaptation, but resilience needs do not automatically translate into financeable investments. RIF is designed to start with the real investment needs of infrastructure owners and identify where long-term finance can help bring those investments forward. By applying established infrastructure-finance disciplines to resilience capital expenditure, we aim to create transactions that are recognisable and investable for institutional investors, while meeting the financing needs of infrastructure owners,” said Martin Cremer, Managing Director of FS Impact Finance.

RIF will work with infrastructure owners, investors, governments and technical experts to identify resilience investments that respond to clearly defined climate risks while meeting the commercial and financial requirements for debt financing.

The project will also examine how insurance and other risk-transfer solutions can complement physical resilience investment. Where material residual climate risks remain, the financing assessment will consider whether further physical measures, insurance or other risk-transfer mechanisms should form part of the wider resilience and financing solution. This broader risk-management perspective will draw on Frankfurt School’s experience in climate and disaster risk finance and insurance.

UNEP will provide implementation oversight and bring extensive experience in climate adaptation, policy advice and country engagement to the project. This includes UNEP’s experience across water, energy and transport sectors, nature-based solutions and adaptation finance. UNEP will also support the project in generating and sharing lessons to contribute to wider efforts towards climate resilience in emerging and developing economies. 

“Infrastructure built and financed today will have to outlast overshoot pathways; the design standards and financing assumptions we have relied on may not hold over an asset’s lifetime, and the risks are financial as well as physical. Resilience investment must therefore anticipate rather than react, building in safety margins and flexibility. The adaptation finance gap is not only about how much finance is available, it is also about turning resilience needs into investment opportunities that can mobilise private capital. The Resilient Infrastructure Fund helps bridge that gap by combining climate adaptation expertise with sharp financial expertise to develop scalable investment solutions for emerging and developing economies,” said Mirey Atallah, Chief of UNEP’s Adaptation and Resilience Branch.

The project brings together complementary capabilities. FS Impact Finance will lead the investment and fund-development work, drawing on its experience in private debt, fund structuring, emerging-market investing and capital mobilisation. Frankfurt School of Finance & Management will support the project with expertise in climate adaptation, technical assistance and climate-risk management.

The support of the GEF’s Special Climate Change Fund will enable the project to address one of the persistent barriers to greater private investment in adaptation: translating resilience needs into sufficiently developed, financeable investment opportunities and scalable financing approaches.