Despite the region’s vulnerability to climate change, there is a serious lack of capacity in Asia for developing quality project proposals for climate change adaptation that can attract financing, which largely hinders implementation of Paris Agreement and the 2030 Development Agenda. Capacity building programmes are needed so that local stakeholders can design, implement and monitor Asian solutions for Asia’s climate change challenges, drawing on regional as well as global knowledge and experience, eventually achieving a move from policy to action. In particular, capacity building to access the increasing availability of climate finance with bankable projects and to select optimal technologies will be critical in the Asia-Pacific region. In January 2016, the Climate Change Asia initiative was launched at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) with the aim of meeting these capacity building needs, yet this initiative is facing enormous challenges when attempting to scale up, and is unable to meet the overwhelming demand from the adaptation community in the region.