Climate Adaptation Project Development.
Development of innovative climate adaptation and resilience project pilots.
SaniTap develops innovative climate adaptation projects designed to strengthen community resilience while advancing new approaches to financing adaptation outcomes.
Our work focuses particularly on water infrastructure and systems that address growing climate risks in vulnerable regions — including extreme weather events, flooding, and water supply disruptions. Current initiatives include a cyclone-resistant safe drinking water supply pilot in Madagascar, which integrates resilient infrastructure design with long-term reliable clean water access. In parallel, SaniTap is contributing to projects aligned with the Adaptation Benefits Mechanism (ABM), an emerging framework that quantifies and certifies verified climate adaptation benefits.
Alongside developing our own pilots, SaniTap provides advisory and consulting services to organisations seeking to design, structure, and implement adaptation-focused projects.
Cyclone-resistant safe water supply.
Madagascar ranks 6th-lowest globally in access to safe water. Over 50% of the population lacks access to safe drinking water, rising to over 90% in rural communities. It is also one of the countries most severely affected by climate change — highly vulnerable to increasingly intense cyclones, flooding, sea-level rise, and changing rainfall patterns.
The east coast is particularly exposed to cyclones that occur three to four times per year on average and are projected to become 50% more intense by the end of the century. These events frequently damage or contaminate drinking water infrastructure through flooding, storm surges, and latrine overflow — driving a recurring cycle of waterborne disease outbreaks that represent a leading cause of child mortality.
SaniTap's response is to build water infrastructure engineered, from the ground up, to withstand Category 4–5 cyclones. Each system combines deep sealed boreholes (to prevent floodwater contamination), solar-powered pumps with battery and generator backup (to maintain operation through prolonged cloud cover), multi-stage water treatment, and elevated storage tanks positioned above maximum flood levels. Clean water is distributed through a piped network reaching homes, schools, and clinics — with access and fair usage managed via smart NFC cards.
Beyond reducing waterborne disease, the project frees women and children from the dangerous and time-consuming search for safe water in the aftermath of storms, and creates lasting local employment through construction and maintenance. Associated carbon emission reductions — from eliminated biomass-based water boiling and solar-powered pumping — provide a meaningful mitigation co-benefit alongside the core adaptation impact.
Adaptation Benefits Mechanism (ABM).
The Adaptation Benefits Mechanism is an innovative financing instrument developed by the African Development Bank, designed to mobilise capital for climate adaptation projects in vulnerable developing countries. Unlike traditional carbon markets — which reward emissions reductions — the ABM is a non-market mechanism that creates a credit for verified adaptation outcomes such as improved climate resilience, reduced disaster risk, and strengthened community capacity to withstand climate change.
SaniTap is actively developing and structuring projects designed to generate Adaptation Benefits under this mechanism. By building infrastructure that directly addresses climate vulnerability — protecting communities from the escalating impacts of cyclones, flooding, and water insecurity — SaniTap's projects are well positioned to produce credible, verifiable adaptation outcomes.
SaniTap offers services to:
Develop climate adaptation project pilots
Design and implementation of pilot adaptation projects for partner organisations and corporates.
Design financing mechanisms
Structuring innovative financing approaches for climate adaptation projects — including ABM, blended finance, and results-based instruments.
Adaptation project in development?
Talk to SaniTap about pilot design, ABM structuring, and resilient water infrastructure.