IMHO: “We can’t work at pace if trust is broken”

Last week, I attended Adaptation Futures 2025 in Ōtautahi Christchurch, the flagship event of the World Adaptation Science Programme.

The breadth of the programme reiterated the complexity of climate adaptation. But it also highlighted the diversity, depth and growing maturity of the community that is looking to resolve those issues. One of the highlights of the conference was the launch of the Aotearoa Society of Adaptation Professionals, established to support the growing community of climate adaptation practitioners.

Indigenous leadership offers valuable direction

A key focus for the conference was to spotlight Pacific and indigenous leadership. Far from being passive recipients of aid or policy, multiple conference streams and sessions addressed the role of indigenous communities as knowledge holders, innovators and leaders.

Wānanga and talanoa (open, respectful dialogue) examined complex systemic adaptation issues in ways that build capacity and knowledge across communities. Sessions explored indigenous governance systems and relational worldviews as a means to challenge the roots of the systems that have created the problems we’re trying to address. They raised the opportunity for long-standing, place-based knowledge and intergenerational stewardship to help unearth localised climate risks and inform specific adaptation responses, and reinforced that indigenous leadership offers valuable direction.

Adaptation financing remains a critical gap

Kōrero also focused on the challenge of funding and financing adaptation efforts. The increasingly urgent, and growing, adaptation finance gap – with needs estimated at $300 billion annually compared to a current flow of only $28 billion – is something that requires innovation and blending of public and private capital. Whilst talks explored a range of mechanisms to support both large scale investments as well as locally-led innovation – including green and resilience bonds, climate-resilient debt clauses and parametric insurance – unclear adaptation finance definitions, taxonomies and metrics raise difficulties.

In KPMG New Zealand’s contribution to the programme, we argued that adaptation responses need to move beyond isolated projects. To build systemic resilience, robust and deliberate governance structures are essential. Such structures enable collaboration, inclusive decision-making and trust – critical for achieving enduring outcomes and avoiding maladaptation.

Collaboration depends on trust

In the week the Government announced a halving of emissions targets for climate-warming methane gas, and launched a stripped-back Climate Adaptation Framework, the topic of trust came up a lot. I had the pleasure of interviewing attendees to share key points of conversation with our KPMG New Zealand LinkedIn followers. Those I spoke to, and numerous contributors to the conference, raised the need for cross-sectoral collaboration to build resilience and deliver adaptation solutions, but the critical role of trust to underpin these collaborations was also well canvassed. Without trust, collaboration falters, and adaptation efforts risk being top-down, extractive or misaligned with local realities.

As one speaker put it: “We can’t work at pace if trust is broken”.

Trust is built through long-term relationships, transparency and reciprocity. This includes sharing power and co-creating solutions with affected communities – particularly where indigenous knowledge systems or youth leadership are being employed.

Storytelling was also raised as a powerful vehicle to humanise data, bring lived experience to the fore and bridge the gap between technical knowledge and community action. These stories, and the experiences of those that have endured climate impacts, serve as a reminder that adaptation is not just about infrastructure or climate models, it’s about people, relationships and values.

What are the implications for leaders?

The Adaptation Futures conference will convene again in 2027 in Cancún. It leaves behind some key takeaways for those in leadership roles, both within and outside of the climate sphere:

• • Centre indigenous and local leadership in programme and governance design. As my favourite Einstein quote goes: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them”. Indigenous knowledge systems and local leadership offer ways of tackling our persistent challenges from a different perspective and may unlock novel and more enduring solutions.
  • Invest in building the trust necessary for enduring cross-sector partnerships. Collaboration is critical, but so is the trust that underpins those relationships. We have seen an erosion of trust across multiple domains and in multiple guises – trust in information, trust in institutions, trust in each other. If we don’t address this breakdown, by investing in relationships, genuinely ceding power and tackling the mis- and dis-information that is fuelling mistrust, we will fail to create solutions that endure. Prioritising lived experiences and storytelling to humanise and mobilise action and empower youth and creative communicators as agents of change, are important vehicles for building trust and empathy.
  • With greater complexity (of projects and businesses) comes a need for more intentional and purposeful governance. Cross-sector collaboration, innovative financing mechanisms, place-based and intergenerational solutions. Our projects, programmes and organisations are becoming increasingly complex, so taking the time to consider the best way to ensure appropriate oversight and governance is critical. The same structures with the same voices asking the same questions just won’t cut it.

The climate may be changing, but so too must our systems of leadership. Governance that builds trust will shape what endures.

Adaptation Futures is the world’s most influential gathering on how to adapt to a global warming and took place in Ōtautahi Christchurch from 13 - 16 October 2025. Over the five-day programme, more than 1,200 global leaders, scientists, policy makers and innovators took part in over 200 sessions, masterclasses, field days and arts events covering topics ranging from the funding and financing of climate adaptation, through to the engagement of local communities in adaptation responses.

Alec Tang is a Partner at KPMG New Zealand. To watch some short interviews from the conference, head to the KPMG New Zealand, or Alec’s personal LinkedIn page, or search #AF2025DelegateDigests. You can also check out the #AF2025 hashtag on LinkedIn.