Where Climate Finance Gets Stuck: And What It Takes to Get It Moving

About the Session There is no shortage of conversation about climate finance. The harder question is whether the money is actually reaching the people, places, and projects where it can make a difference. Indigenous Peoples and local communities protecting forests struggle to access funding directly. Small Island Developing States face enormous adaptation needs alongside persistent barriers to finance. Climate developers can struggle to secure the early-stage capital needed to turn promising ideas into investable projects. And adaptation continues to compete for resources even as climate impacts intensify. These are different challenges, but they point to a common problem: the architecture of climate finance can be easier to navigate for those providing capital than for those trying to use it. This session will examine what needs to change across that architecture, from international climate funds and philanthropy to private investment, government finance, and emerging financial infrastructure. How can more capital move directly to communities? What fills the gap between an early idea and a financeable climate project? How can better climate evidence and data help projects become investable? And where do existing systems reproduce deeper imbalances in who controls climate finance and on what terms? The conversation will also consider climate finance through the lens of justice rather than charity. Accelerating capital is important, but so is asking who can access it, who sets the conditions, who carries the risk, and who ultimately benefits. Discussion Group Leaders Adam Ó Ceallaigh is Director at Oileán, advancing strategic solutions that support social and environmental impact. Carine de Meyere is CEO & Founder at Hurry Up Group, accelerating gender-responsive climate finance and investment at the intersection of women and climate. Natalie Klepacova is Advocacy and Policy Manager at Cool Earth, advancing climate finance and policy that put Indigenous Peoples and local communities at the center of rainforest protection. Pradnya Haldipur is Founder and Principal at Strategy.Creatvity.Mentorship, strengthening nonprofits through sustainable strategies and philanthropic partnerships that mobilize transformational support. Maria Ron Balsera is Executive Director at Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR), advancing human rights and economic justice through equitable public services, education, and tax justice. What to Expect A practical conversation about the barriers that prevent climate capital from reaching implementation. Participants will compare experiences across community-led climate action, SIDS, adaptation, project development, philanthropy, and private finance. The focus will be on the points where money gets stuck and the changes in financing structures, evidence, decision-making, and power that could help it move. Who This Is For This session is for climate funders and investors, governments, development finance institutions, philanthropists, climate project developers, Indigenous and local community leaders, SIDS representatives, adaptation practitioners, financial innovators, and organizations working to make climate finance more accessible and equitable. What You Will Get Out of It A clearer picture of where and why climate finance gets stuck Approaches to getting more direct and flexible finance to communities Ideas for closing the early-stage financing gap for climate projects Perspectives on accelerating finance for adaptation and climate-vulnerable countries A deeper understanding of how access, power, risk, and justice shape climate finance