Released Wednesday, April 22, Earth Day.
Download the report Watch COP30 Launch Event Download the Press ReleaseGlaciers, snowpack, and mountain permafrost are rapidly melting as the climate warms, destabilizing water systems, landscapes, and ecosystems on which millions of people depend on. The consequences are already visible—from floods and agricultural disruption to growing social and economic instability. Limiting warming to at or below 1.5°C remains the only path to preserving the mountain cryosphere and the essential services it provides, yet even under this scenario significant adaptation will be required. With 85% of UN Member States either glaciated or affected by glacier-fed waters—placing up to US$4 trillion in GDP at risk—the world is profoundly underprepared. This report examines the unique barriers that hinder financing for glacier-related mitigation and adaptation, and begins to identify pathways to mobilize public and private investment to safeguard the world’s “water towers” and the communities that rely on them.
Citation: ICCI, 2026. Barriers to Glaciers‐Related Financing: Financing Mitigation to Preserve Glaciers While Adapting to Their Loss. International Cryosphere Climate Initiative (ICCI), Stockholm, Sweden. 48 pp.
Published: 22 April 2026
Executive Summary
Glaciers around the world, along with snowpack and mountain permafrost, are melting and disintegrating due to the rapidly warming climate. This is destabilizing regional and global hydrological cycles, altering terrain stability and ecosystems. From flash floods and the loss of agriculture to civil unrest, the loss of the mountain cryosphere contributes to catastrophes with significant human toll.
The only way to preserve glaciers, the mountain cryosphere, and their essential ecosystem services is through swift and impactful emissions reductions aimed at or below the lower 1.5°C Paris Agreement limit. Even with such urgent action, some level of adaptation to deteriorating mountain and downstream conditions is essential. Many communities already face extensive loss and damage from glacier loss and are already moving beyond the limits of adaptation. At each fraction of a degree above today’s level, impacts on ecosystems and communities will increase, as will the need for financing.
Eighty‐five percent of UN member states are either glaciated or impacted by glaciers making this a topic that touches a majority of the world’s population (Rae, R., 2025). As much as US$4 trillion in GDP from glacier‐fed freshwater sources is currently at risk (UNEP 2025). Despite this, with few exceptions, the global community is underprepared for this reality and is in urgent need for targeted finance to adapt to current and future glacier‐related disasters.
Unlocking such financing for glacier issues, however, requires overcoming some barriers beyond those normally associated with climate and adaptation finance, e.g., opaque accounting and regulatory risk. Some of these include the episodic nature of catastrophes associated with glacier‐related extreme events; lack of connection with, or knowledge of glacier dynamics and downstream changes by central governments and international financial institutions (IFIs); the transboundary nature of glaciers and their impacts; and the slow onset yet essentially irreversible changes entailed by glacier loss, such as river flow changes that are out of sync with the harvests. Notably, many of the glaciers that impact the most vulnerable regions do not have long observational records. This makes projections about their future and needed adaptation measures more difficult.
Many of the initial solutions to freeing finance revolve around mobilizing capital through both private and public sectors. Thus far, this has been a balancing act of an overburdened public sector, a private sector seeking near‐term returns and competing demands for the same funds. Public institutions, such as multilateral development banks (MDBs), can however identify ways to leverage additional funding together with countries. This can help create scalable mitigation (glacier preservation) and adaptation initiatives. As the realities of climate change and glacier loss grow, along with their implications, all channels of funding will need to reassess personal efficacy, risk tolerance, and the willingness to break down long‐standing silos and into new sectors. Building sustainable glacier financing communities, both locally as well as regionally, e.g., across High Mountain Asia, will also require cross‐sector and multidisciplinary collaboration. Lastly, countries vulnerable to glacier change may have more immediate existential threats, such as conflict, to which monies are funneled.
This White Paper outlines some of the largest hurdles relating to glacier and mountain cryosphere‐related financing, and identifies some of the needs and best practices found globally to ensure glaciers can preserve their vital role in preserving the water towers of the world.
1. Rae, R. (2025). “High‐Level Opening,” Launch of the 1st World Day for Glaciers and pivot event World Water Day. International Year for Glaciers’ Preservation, 21 March 2025, United Nations Headquarters, New York City.
2. UNEP (2025). “World Water Day 2025: Why Glacier Preservation Matters for Finance.” United Nations Environmental Programme Finance Initiative. https://www.unepfi.org/themes/ecosystems/world‐water‐day‐2025‐why‐glacier‐preservation‐matters‐for‐finance.