World Resources Institute (WRI) intends to award a Fixed Price type contract to assess the methodology(s) and successful cases of using a triple dividend approach to analyze climate change adaptation policies and investments. The deliverable will be a working paper of no more than 10,000 words, to be published by WRI. Proposals are welcome from individual consultants or teams, universities, or firms.

Proposals for this assessment are due Friday, November 13 at 10AM ET (Washington, DC).

CONTEXT

Adaptation actions can generate triple dividends. Unfortunately, however, this broad concept of the financial, economic, social and environmental benefits of actions to improve climate resilience is neither generally understood nor applied. As a result, the full benefits to society of undertaking adaptation-related policy reform and making physical investments are typically under-estimated.

The first dividend of adaptation actions is avoided losses—that is, the ability of the policy or investment to reduce future losses from climate hazards. While avoiding losses is the most common motivation for investing in resilience, taken alone it underestimates the total benefits to society. Many adaptation actions generate significant additional economic, social and environmental benefits, which accrue on an ongoing basis starting at the time of investment and are not dependent on the future state of the climate. In other words, they are both more certain and more immediate. In some cases, the induced economic, social and environmental benefits of adaptation actions exceed the expected value of avoided losses.