The Resilience Opportunity Unlocking Climate Resilience through Public Private Collaboration 2025

Climate resilience is becoming a strategic priority across the public and private sectors. As climate risks intensify, the pressure to protect people, infrastructure and economies is mounting. Yet, despite growing awareness, current investment levels remain below what is required. Public funding alone cannot meet the scale of demand (particularly for large, shared-risk infrastructure), making private- sector engagement not just beneficial, but essential. Recent market analysis estimates that climate adaptation and resilience represents a trillion-dollar annual investment opportunity by 2050. Within this, in the analysis conducted for this paper, $320–500 billion per year will be needed to deliver large-scale infrastructure, such as flood protection systems, drought mitigation and urban resilience networks, where public-private collaboration offers the most effective and efficient path forward. This paper presents a strategic blueprint for unlocking the full potential of public-private collaboration on resilience. It introduces six archetypes that define practical roles for private-sector participation in scaling climate resilience. These archetypes can be applied individually or blended within a single initiative to enhance overall bankability, align incentives and improve delivery outcomes.The paper then identifies three main levers to integrate different archetypes and enable investment. First, resilience projects can be anchored in viable revenue models (e.g. bundling with commercial infrastructure or monetizing co-benefits). Second, many small or localized projects need to be aggregated into larger, investment-ready platforms, such as regional initiatives. Third, projects can integrate mechanisms to manage risk-return expectations, especially for different stakeholders. Case studies like the SMART Tunnel and RISCO (Restoration Insurance and Financial Services Company) demonstrate how adaptation and resilience projects can be viable, scalable and impactful when designed effectively. To advance this urgent agenda, public- and private-sector leaders can work together to identify suitable entry points, align on shared objectives, and co-design and co-develop projects that integrate commercial and resilience value. With structured design and public-private collaboration, climate resilience can become a scalable, investable pillar of the global climate response. Note: Throughout this paper, the term “climate resilience” is used to describe the ability to resist, respond to and recover from hazardous climate impacts, adapt to new climate conditions and maintain stability.Executive summary Unlocking public-private collaboration is key to transforming resilience into an investable, scalable opportunity. The Resilience Opportunity: Unlocking Climate Resilience through Public-Private Collaboration 4