Step 5.3 Funding or financing for implementation

Key message

Implementing adaptation actions can require significant financial resources. Your adaptation plan needs to be supported by a solid funding/financing plan.

Step 1.4 guided you through identifying potential funding sources, highlighting the EU funding of adaptation available on Climate-ADAPT and Financing opportunities overview from the EU Covenant of Mayors. For further details, see MIP’s Funding and Financing Guide. It’s also important to understand the distinction between funding and financing

Flexibility and a combination of funding sources, including non-monetary support, is advisable. It's crucial to identify sources of public funding and private finance for each measure, ensuring alignment with eligibility requirements (see Example 5.3). Your plan should remain flexible to accommodate funding deadlines, and you can use resources like Climate-ADAPT (EEA member states’ country profiles) or national adaptation platforms as references to demonstrate the use of state-of-the-art adaptation knowledge in your funding proposal.

When assessing and selecting adaptation measures in Step 4, you likely estimated implementation costs (Step 4.1). If not, obtaining quotes now can help you estimate costs for the selected measures, including the associated administration expenses. Securing funding before finalising the details of your action plan – and prioritising measures that are easier to fund, like no-regret actions and those linked to high-priority considerations (Step 4.2) – is very important for making your plan sustainable.

Funding or financing usually focuses on implementing specific actions, with maintenance costs often addressed by other avenues within an organisation. Neglecting to account for these costs upfront can result in inadequate funding and future challenges. When assessing adaptation options (Step 4.1), you likely already estimated maintenance expenses and identified the responsible organisational areas.