Climate Adaptation and Finance Expert

As the United Nations lead agency on international development, UNDP works in 170 countries and territories to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality. We help countries to develop policies, leadership skills, partnering abilities, institutional capabilities, and to build resilience to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Our work is concentrated in three focus areas; sustainable development, democratic governance and peace building, and climate and disaster resilience. UNDP’s mandate is to end poverty, build democratic governance, rule of law, and inclusive institutions. We advocate for change, and connect countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life.

The impacts of climate change in India are expected to exacerbate with time thus increasing the need for climate adaptation efforts. The need for adaptation finance flows will be significantly higher in the future to implement physical adaptation & enabling activities. Hower, adaptation is resource-intensive, requiring major financial investment. The AdCom projects total expenditure under a BAU scenario at INR 56.68 trillion (USD 678 billion) by 2030, using 2023-24 as the base year. Most climate finance currently comes from government budgets, with mitigation and adaptation integrated into national and sub-national programs. A Ministry of Finance sub-committee estimates cumulative adaptation expenditure will reach INR 85.6 trillion (USD 1 trillion) by 2030 at 2011-12 prices.

Public funds alone cannot meet India’s adaptation needs, making increased private sector investment essential. Institutionalizing mechanisms for continuous capacity building in climate science, modeling, financing, and tracking will ensure adaptation is embedded in national and sub-national decision-making, fostering long-term sustainability.

The National Workshop on Sustainable Finance, organized by DEA and UNDP with support from NITI Aayog, emphasized the need for a formal framework to guide states on SDG-aligned budgeting

Amid diverse frameworks focusing on gender, climate, and DRR, SDG-aligned budgeting should integrate a climate lens, with emphasis on adaptation.

As climate impacts intensify, the link between climate change and economic growth is increasingly recognized, yet detailed country- and state-level analysis is urgently needed. While adaptation finance largely supports physical measures, soft measures such as capacity building and vulnerability studies remain underfunded by both external and domestic sources.

Some barriers to private sector investments in climate adaptation efforts include the perceived financial risks of adaptation projects, lack of technical knowledge on adaptation benefits, & the absence of adequate policy incentives to encourage private sector investments. Therefore, there is a need to address these barriers by advocating for a comprehensive adaptation financing framework in India that promotes the integration of public, private, & international finance.

A key challenge is the lack of coherence between national and sub-national adaptation planning, often resulting in fragmented efforts. Strengthening institutional capacity at both levels is essential to align policies and implementation for an integrated approach

The Knowledge Centre on Climate Change Adaptation Modeling seeks to bridge the gap between adaptation needs and the availability of data and metrics for effective planning and implementation
Climate adaptation modeling guides short-, medium-, and long-term planning by assessing risks, costs, feasibility, and co-benefits, while informing financial mechanisms to enable evidence-based decisions for current and future climate risks.

In the context of this project, UNDP is looking to onboard a Climate Adaptation & Finance Analyst. The expert will coordinate the development & implementation of work for climate adaptation modelling & finance. They will track project progress, assess outcomes, & con-tribute to learning & reporting.

The main purpose of the role is to support and manage the project’s activities on climate adaptation and finance. The expert will ensure timely data collection, analysis, and re-porting to support evidence-based decision-making, learning, and accountability

• Research support for the development and implementation of methodologies, cli-mate adaptation and finance
• Assist in preparing and monitoring project and programme budgets related to adaptation activities.
• Support costing of adaptation interventions, including financial modelling, cost–benefit analyses, and return-on-investment assessments.
• Assist in identifying potential funding opportunities from domestic budgets, climate funds, and development partners.
• Contribute to the preparation of proposals, investment cases, and concept notes for adaptation finance.
• Support exploration of innovative financing mechanisms, including blended finance, guarantees, and private sector engagement models.
• Coordinate with government agencies, financial institutions, private sector actors, and development partners to promote climate finance integration.
• Support organization of training sessions, consultations, and workshops on climate adaptation and finance
• Assist in developing guidance materials and knowledge products to strengthen institutional capacity in adaptation finance.
• Prepare reports and documents for donor reports/partner reports, steering commit-tee meetings, and internal reviews.
• Prepare project documents and coordinate/track with consultants and partners to deliver project outputs and outcomes
• Maintains regular, transparent communication with supervisors, UNDP office, government officials, and project partners