RISE-IN is designed to strengthen the link between climate resilience and finance. Its main goal is to develop and test a new concept called the Bankability Readiness Level (BRL), a practical framework that helps identify how ready Climate Resilient Solutions (CRS) are to attract investment and deliver long-term impact.
Through this approach, RISE-IN aims to bridge the gap between innovative local climate actions and financial institutions, helping cities turn resilience ideas into viable, bankable projects.
What is the Bankability Readiness Level?
The Bankability Readiness Level provides a structured way to evaluate the financial performance and viability of a climate resilience project. It considers risk, returns, and feasibility of a potential project, along with how well it can attract and sustain various forms of investment. The BRL framework includes a detailed description of solution’s key features that enhance investment attractiveness, investment size, regulatory considerations and investor types.
What are Climate Resilient Solutions?
In RISE-IN, Climate Resilient Solutions combine nature/ecosystem-based, physical, and technological measures to address both climate change adaptation and mitigation. These solutions aim not only to protect cities from climate risks but also to deliver multiple co-benefits such as biodiversity, human well-being and ecosystem services. Each solution is co-designed with local stakeholders to ensure it fits the social, economic and environmental realities of each city and remains aligned with EU investment principles.
Demonstration and Replicator Cities
RISE-IN works with a network of European and international cities that serve as testbeds and learning hubs for climate resilience. Demonstration Cities are the cities where solutions are implemented, monitored, and evaluated:
Cesena (Italy)
Christchurch (New Zealand)
Póvoa de Varzim (Portugal)
While Replicator Cities are those where the tested solutions are adapted and scaled up:
Ghent (Belgium)
Kadiköy (Turkey)
Zhytomyr (Ukraine)
Through these collaborations, RISE-IN is helping cities move from promising climate ideas to investment-ready, high-impact solutions that contribute to a more resilient and sustainable future.
Read more about Rise-In
Rise-In team
Guillaume Lorentz
Head of bankable sustainable solutions
Guillaume Lorentz has over 20 years of experience in the financial sector, including senior roles at major investment banks such as HSBC. After five years working in market and model risk management, he spent 15 years in trading as a director in Paris and London, focusing primarily on structured products for global portfolios. His financial expertise has since expanded into sustainable finance, with a strong emphasis on the bankability of sustainable solutions through financial engineering. He has extensive implementation experience across fifteen countries in Africa, particularly in energy efficiency, sustainable cities, and carbon markets. At the Sustainable Finance Observatory (SFO), he leads the Bankability and Modelling Division, covering adaptation, biodiversity, energy, and climate-related topics.
Lisa Bacon
Nature-finance analyst
Lisa is a Nature and Climate Finance Analyst. Her work focuses on exploring solutions in the realm of finance and policy to reallocate financial flows towards nature restoration and climate adaptation projects. She joined the Observatory in 2024 after having worked in sustainable finance within the banking sector, following her studies in management and finance at HEC Paris, and Public Policy at the University of Tokyo
Mirindra Rabemanantsoa
Project Manager
Mirindra specializes in sustainable finance and just transition, focusing on integrating social and environmental considerations into public policies and financial decision-making. She co-leads energy efficiency initiatives, developing financing schemes to scale up renovations. She sees energy efficiency as a cornerstone of a just transition, reducing emissions while addressing energy poverty and improving living conditions. Her work emphasizes inclusive financing tools that ensure the benefits of the energy transition reach those most affected by climate and social inequalities.