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Climate Finance Network

Introduction 

UNDP Thailand is working to accelerate the country's climate finance agenda by supporting pioneering sovereign financial instruments and empowering local governments to build resilience from the ground up. By linking national policy with tangible sub-national action, the goal is to create a multi-layered and inclusive approach to climate finance. This work is part of the UNDP Climate Finance Network, supported by the UK FCDO CARA Programme.

What we do

💰Advancing sovereign sustainable finance

  • The challenge: Mobilizing large-scale capital to accelerate Thailand's transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy through credible, measurable and innovative financing instruments. 
  • The approach: Supporting the Ministry of Finance in pioneering sovereign sustainable finance through the independent verification of Asia's first Sovereign Sustainability-Linked Bond, strengthening transparency, accountability, and investor confidence through internationally aligned performance indicators and sustainable performance targets. 
  • The impact: Establishing Thailand as a regional leader in sovereign sustainable finance while unlocking investment for climate action and laying the foundation for future sustainability-linked and other outcome-based financing instruments.

🏙️ Strengthening climate resilience in urban centers

  • The challenge: Equipping major urban centers like Bangkok to manage the negative effects of extreme heat, which impacts over 5.3 million residents.
  • The approach: Developing a financing roadmap for the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration's (BMA) climate priorities to identify funding gaps, instruments, and resources needed to tackle urban heat challenges.
  • The impact: A clear strategy for financing urban heat resilience in one of Southeast Asia's largest cities, with a focus on sustainable financing solutions.

 🤝 Empowering local communities in climate action 

  • The challenge: Ensuring that national climate policies are informed by and translated into actionable, gender-responsive plans at the local level.
  • The approach: Support to 8 sub-districts in Pattani province to collect data, analyze needs, prepare community climate adaptation projects that are inclusive of women and youth, and financing strategy for budget submissions and investment mobilization.
  • The impact: Community climate adaptation is costed, laying a stronger foundation for mobilizing investment in community-led climate action.

Our impact in action

🏆 Launching Asia’s first sovereign sustainability-linked bond 

A significant breakthrough was achieved with the launch of Asia’s first Sovereign Sustainability-Linked Bond.  Outstanding issuance reached over 7.2 billion$ million as of mid-2026. UNDP served as the independent third-party verifier, demonstrating how credible frameworks can unlock sovereign access to performance-linked capital.

🏙️ Bangkok’s financing strategy for urban heat resilience

UNDP supported the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) in developing its Financial Strategy for Tackling Urban Heat Challenges.  The strategy identifies priority investments, estimates financing needs, maps innovative financing options, and provides a practical roadmap to mobilize public and private finance, helping transform Bangkok's Urban Heat Management Action Plan into investable and implementable projects.

🤝 Community-led climate charter, master plan and financing strategy
In a landmark for local climate action, the Laempho-Pattani Climate Community Charter was launched. Developed through community consultation, this charter translates local voices into a concrete action plan, creating a direct pathway for aligning public investment with the community’s most pressing resilience needs. This charter will strengthen the implementation of Pattani Bay’s Community Climate Adaptation Master Plan and Financing Strategy.

🔍 Strengthening climate finance accountability
To ensure climate investments deliver real results, the State Audit Office of the Kingdom of Thailand is now piloting the UNDP Good Practice on Climate Audit Guide in performance audits, setting a new standard for transparency and trust in climate finance. 

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