Investing in start-ups scales the offering of climate adaptation solutions in African and South Asian countries

A partnership between EIT Climate-KIC and CDC Group, the UK’s development finance institution, is set to incubate and accelerate promising start-ups offering climate adaptation and resilience solutions in African and South Asian countries.

Africa and South Asian countries are among the world’s most vulnerable to climate-related risks, shocks, and stressors due to a combination of relatively high vulnerability and low adaptability. 

Although many of these countries have made significant development gains in recent years, the consequences of climate change threaten to reverse the progress already under strain from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Investing in climate adaptation is now more urgent than ever. To accelerate the development of markets for adaptation and resilience solutions, CDC Plus—CDC’s technical assistance facility funded by UK Aid from the British people—is supporting EIT Climate-KIC to integrate an adaptation and resilience ‘lens’ to its proven ClimateLaunchpad initiative.  

 “CDC Group is committed to accelerating private investments in climate adaptation and resilience in Africa and South Asia. Our CDC Plus grant to EIT Climate-KIC’s ClimateLaunchpad further demonstrates how we are strengthening partnerships to catalyse the ecosystem for turning promising adaptation and resilience ideas into scalable solutions,” said Chiara Trabacchi, Climate Change Manager at CDC Group.

This initiative will identify and support entrepreneurs with solutions focused on climate adaptation and resilience to help them develop into scalable and investment-ready businesses. It is an opportunity to offer improvements in innovation and job creation. From growing crops in deserts to finding natural ways to cool our homes, the adaptation economy is booming.

“Innovation is crucial for helping us adapt to climate change and start-ups are a great vehicle for bringing these innovations to market. Our collaboration with CDC Group is a fantastic opportunity to help start-ups and create jobs in the very places battling climate impacts, and ultimately see investment flows where it matters most, ” said EIT Climate-KIC Chief Strategy Officer Dr. Tom Mitchell.

EIT Climate-KIC aims at developing and scaling high-impact solutions for boosting climate resiliency, and this first collaboration is anchored in the ClimateLaunchpad programme to build seamless end-to-end support for start-ups in the adaptation economy. The collaboration is one of many global partnerships in CDC Group’s portfolio, including WWF. These CDC Plus-funded projects are paving the way for climate resiliency in developing and emerging countries. 

If you have the next big idea for increasing climate resilience, apply for ClimateLaunchpad’s innovation challenge opening in September. Finalists will have the opportunity to showcase their solutions in connection with UNFCCC COP26 events. For more information visit: https://climatelaunchpad.org.

This article was originally published on 13 July 2021.