🌊 How do we finance flood-ready, climate-secure coastal cities?

On 19 February, I’ll be giving a short special address at Mumbai Climate Week 2026 on:

Blue financing for urban coastal resilience

Coastal cities like Mumbai sit on the frontlines of climate risk: rising sea levels, flooding and extreme weather are already driving recurrent economic losses. Yet financing for coastal and urban resilience remains fragmented and far below adaptation needs, particularly at the municipal level.

Blue finance is often framed around ecosystems, biodiversity or carbon markets.

But it is also a strategic lever for cities.

If structured well, it can:

• Align coastal resilience with long-term economic development

• Treat ecosystems (mangroves, wetlands, coastal buffers) as protective infrastructure

• Crowd in development finance institutions and private capital

• Strengthen municipal investment pipelines

• Move adaptation from planning documents into investable projects

I’m looking forward to the discussion alongside colleagues from finance, development institutions and urban planning, convened by auctusESG, Blue Bond Accelerator and Ocean Centres India (hosted by the United Nations Global Compact and supported by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation) under the aegis of Mumbai Climate Week.

📅 19 February 2026

🕘 09:30–11:15 GMT (London); 3-4.45pm IST (Mumbai)

🔗 Register here