Port systems provide a useful way to ground the challenge of financing resilience in real-world scenarios. They are economic lifelines that connect global trade, energy systems, food supply chains and local communities. As they become hubs for the energy transition, they also provide a useful lens through which to explore why resilience still struggles to attract investment.
Through consultation with practitioners from engineering, finance, academia, city networks, NGOs and international organisations, ICSI has explored what it will take to make resilience investable, using ports as a test case.
This insight paper was informed in particular by a roundtable convened during London Climate Action Week 2026 by ICSI, the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM) and the Engineering Leadership Group (ELG). It looks at some of the barriers holding back investment in resilience, and where there may be opportunities to address them. This work is part of ICSI’s Funding and Financing Action Track.
