Private sector consultancies are actively involved in the adaptation community of practice, where they routinely operate at the science-business-policy nexus, providing expert advice to governments on a range of adaptation-related issues. However, their involvement in the making and implementing of policy remains largely obscured from both public and scholarly scrutiny. This paper presents findings from two years of research ‘inside the black box’ of Australian climate change consulting, a sector considered to be a global leader in adaptation practice. In doing so, it provides much needed insights into the nature, extent and drivers of adaptation consulting to the Australian government sector.

The paper describes the ‘shape’ of adaptation consulting, charting its emergence and development in time and place. This reveals the strong inter-dependencies between adaptation consulting and all levels of Australian government, who have directly and indirectly funded this market, but also curtailed it in some places. It shows how global, national and regional climate politics – together with public sector reform – have influenced fluctuations in adaptation consulting. It also reveals the ways in which consultants cultivate the adaptation market through formal and informal consulting practices and intersecting consulting networks. The paper goes on to describe the ‘flavour’ of adaptation consulting, highlighting its heterogeneity in terms of consulting firms, individual adaptation consultants and adaptation consulting services. It explores how this diversity has influenced, and been influenced by, the trajectory of adaptation governance in Australia. The paper concludes with some reflections on the implications of outsourcing adaptation.