12 October 2026 | Bangkok, Thailand
Representatives from Finance Ministries of 28 countries across Asia and the Pacific, and more than 20 partners, met in Bangkok on 12 October 2026 and agreed that the priority now is to turn climate plans into financed, implementable action. The Asia-Pacific Regional Dialogue, co-organized by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Coalition of Finance Ministers on Climate Action (CFMCA), was held under the theme Managing Climate Risks and Financing Resilience and Transition in a Constrained Fiscal Environment.
Key takeaways
The focus is shifting from climate planning to implementation. Countries increasingly know their priorities, but the challenge is translating them into costed, finance-ready investments and embedding climate considerations into routine fiscal, budget, and public investment decisions.
Climate risk is increasingly a fiscal risk. Climate shocks can simultaneously increase emergency spending, reduce government revenues, and weaken debt sustainability. Finance ministries therefore have a central role in assessing and managing these risks through macro-fiscal planning, budgeting, investment appraisal, and debt management.
Better climate information needs to translate into better decisions. While tools such as climate budget tagging, risk screening, and green procurement are becoming more widespread, they do not yet consistently influence budget negotiations, project appraisal, or oversight. Clear institutional mandates, stronger data, and analytical capacity remain critical gaps.
Adaptation finance remains the region’s most acute financing challenge, particularly for SIDS and LDCs. Participants stressed that the issue is not only the volume of finance, but also access and appropriate financing terms. Many resilience investments are public goods without direct financial returns and therefore require grant or highly concessional financing.
Fiscal policy needs to reconcile climate objectives with broader economic priorities. Experiences from the region highlighted the importance of aligning taxation, subsidies, budgeting, and public investment with climate objectives while managing affordability, competitiveness, energy security, and fiscal sustainability.
Financing strategies need the right instruments for the right investments. Public resources alone will not meet investment needs. Stronger project preparation and investment pipelines can help countries combine grants and concessional resources with blended finance and private capital where appropriate, while protecting debt sustainability and country ownership.
Regional peer learning can accelerate implementation. Practical exchanges on fiscal-risk modelling, stress testing, subsidy reform, climate-responsive PFM, and financing instruments were identified as particularly valuable. Participants called for shared tools and technical assistance that strengthens lasting capacity within finance ministries.
Success should ultimately be measured by implementation and resilience outcomes, not commitments or finance mobilized alone. Participants emphasized working through national systems, strengthening country ownership, and bringing Asia-Pacific priorities, particularly adaptation and finance access for vulnerable economies, into the Coalition’s work and COP31.
Next steps
Shift from commitments to implementation, with progress assessed through tangible resilience and investment outcomes rather than pledges alone.
Improve access to adaptation finance, particularly for SIDS and LDCs, including simpler processes, faster approvals, and greater availability of grant and concessional finance.
Identify the main barriers to climate finance access and agree on concrete actions, responsibilities, and timelines to address them.
Strengthen project preparation and investment pipelines so national climate priorities can be translated into finance-ready projects.
Expand regional peer learning and practical tools, including shared approaches to climate-fiscal risk assessment, stress testing, and climate-responsive public financial management.