As climate change places increasing pressure on infrastructure systems, governments face a growing challenge: how can today’s investments continue serving communities decades into the future? 

Building climate-resilient infrastructure is about more than engineering. It depends on decisions made before construction begins—and on the oversight that continues throughout delivery. 

Recent initiatives in Costa Rica and Malawi show that strengthening climate resilience requires different approaches at different stages of the infrastructure lifecycle. Together, they demonstrate that resilience cannot be built through a single intervention. 

Costa Rica: building resilience from the start 

In Costa Rica, the focus is on improving decisions before projects are built. Through its latest Independent Review, CoST Costa Rica examines whether infrastructure investments are being planned with future climate risks in mind. By looking upstream at project selection, design, and planning, the review recognises that many sustainability risks are shaped long before construction begins. 

Rather than asking only whether projects are delivered successfully, the review looks further upstream: are projects responding to long-term needs? Have environmental risks been properly considered? Are today’s investments likely to remain resilient in tomorrow’s climate? 

By strengthening transparency early, Costa Rica is helping make climate resilience part of decision-making from the outset—improving not only how infrastructure performs today, but how well it can withstand future climate pressures. 

Malawi: protecting resilience through delivery 

Malawi’s work focuses on a different stage of the infrastructure lifecycle. 

In partnership with GIZ, rather than concentrating primarily on planning, CoST Malawi is strengthening transparency around the implementation of climate finance projects. Its Independent Review examines whether investments intended to support climate resilience are being delivered transparently, monitored effectively, and producing the outcomes they were designed to achieve.  

The emphasis is on accountability during delivery. By making implementation more transparent, Malawi is helping ensure climate investments deliver the outcomes they were designed to achieve—not simply the promises made during planning. 

Transparency across the climate journey 

Costa Rica and Malawi approach climate resilience from different directions, but they point to the same conclusion: resilience depends on transparency throughout the infrastructure lifecycle. Costa Rica strengthens decisions before construction; Malawi strengthens accountability during delivery. Together, they show that climate resilience is built through better governance, better information, and better decisions at every stage—creating infrastructure that is not only more sustainable, but better equipped to serve communities for generations to come.