NEW DELHI: Even if the developed countries triple their money available to support developing nations to adapt to climate change by 2035, it would still cover less than a third of what is actually needed to protect people from disastrous consequences of global warming, the UN Environment Programme flagged in its annual Adaptation Gap Report on Wednesday.It estimates that the developing countries will need around $305 billion annually by 2035, or approximately $420 billion once future inflation is taken into account, to adapt themselves. But the collective pledge of the rich nations to triple international public finance flows could reach only $85-120 billion a year by 2035. So, this would only cover 20-29% of what the developing countries need to deal with intensifying climate impacts.If one looks at the actual contribution of rich nations in 2024, they provided only $28.2-31.7 billion in 2024, a $1 billion increase over the previous year. It practically means for every dollar developing countries need to adapt, they receive just 10 cents.
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“The world is not ready to adapt to current climatic conditions, never mind what overshoot of 1.5 degrees Celsius will bring,” said Inger Andersen, executive director of UNEP, referring to the inevitability of global warming exceeding the 1.5 degree C threshold (above 1850-1900 levels). Such warming has the potential to increase the number of extreme weather events, leading to worsening impacts of climate change.The report ahead of the 31st session of the UN climate change conference (COP31), scheduled to take place in Antalya, Turkiye, from Nov 9 to 20, may help negotiators from participating countries to put additional focus on adaptation finance.The report finds that adaptation finance continues to fall far short of needs, implementation remains constrained by institutional barriers, and loss and damage are mounting as climate impacts intensify. “Action on all these fronts is essential to build resilience in a rapidly changing climate,” it said.
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