More funding is needed for climate adaptation as risks mount.
Released ahead of COP27, the latest United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report finds that global measures in planning, financing and implementation for climate adaptation are not keeping pace with the increasing risks. Therefore, nations must enormously increase funding for climate adaptation as climate change intensifies worldwide, according to The Adaptation Gap Report 2022: Too Little, Too Slow – Climate adaptation failure puts the world at risk.
Rising climate risks
Current effects are coming at only 1.1°C above pre-industrial temperatures whereas, according to UNEP’s Emissions Gap Report, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the 2015 Paris Agreement indicate global warming of 2.4-2.6°C by the end of the century.
Slow progress on climate adaptation
The report finds that more than 80% of countries have at least one national adaptation planning instrument and one-third of the 197 country Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have incorporated quantified and time-bound targets for adaptation. However, there is a need to turn these plans into actions.
In 2020, the flow of international finance for adaptation to developing countries reached USD 29 billion, an increase of 4 per cent from 2019, still far below the $340 billion per year needed by 2030.
Therefore, the report shows that international adaptation finance flowing into developing countries is 5-10 times below estimated needs.
“Adaptation needs in the developing world are set to skyrocket to as much as $340 billion a year by 2030. Yet adaptation support today stands at less than one-tenth of that amount. The most vulnerable people and communities are paying the price. This is unacceptable.” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement on the release of the Adaptation Gap Report.
The report signals strong political will is required to increase adaptation investments and outcomes to prevent the adaptation gap from widening. At the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow last year, developed countries agreed to double adaptation financing support to $40 billion annually by 2025.
“Countries must present a credible roadmap with clear milestones on how this will be delivered — preferably as grants, not loans,” said Guterres.