While financial services can play an important role in climate resilience strategies, how well highly vulnerable populations can use them depends on how effectively services respond to their expressed needs and individual contexts. This whitepaper combines insights from a review of relevant literature with insights from focus group discussions and individual interviews of those most impacted by climate shocks and stresses.

Through these insights, it provides a broad look at how financial and non-financial products and services can support their resilience-building efforts. In doing so, it seeks to highlight the challenges that stakeholders must address to support the climate resilience of affected populations. The paper also examines where and how financial services can play a role in that journey.

The authors' experience, built on more than three decades of financial inclusion work, underscores the importance of listening to and understanding customers' voices. As they face climate shocks and stresses head-on, low- and middle-income individuals are adapting and building resilience. Only by listening to their perspectives and learning from their experiences can the sector design products they will value and use.

Download the whitepaper