Climate adaptation finance is intended to fund activities to reduce the physical climate risks faced by countries. The quantity of adaptation finance has been a highly contentious political issue, and a critical negotiating point for developing countries in international climate negotiations. Yet we argue, as have others, that countries’ resilience to the impacts of climate change will not be noticeably enhanced unless the international adaptation finance community shifts its focus from the quantity of finance to its quality and risk-reducing impacts. We provide five recommendations, underpinned by evidence from scientific research, to transform the quality of adaptation delivered with adaptation finance, to build credibility that it will cost-effectively reduce the future impacts of climate change. Doing so requires an urgent shift in efforts toward improving the enabling environment of governments, sectors, and communities to identify, appraise, prioritize, finance, implement, and monitor adaptation programs and projects. [...]