Instead of accelerating to meet the challenge of rising emissions, progress on climate adaptation is slowing across the board, a new report published on Thursday by the UN’s environment agency finds.
The Adaptation Gap Report 2023 issued by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), says the world is underprepared, under invested and lacking the necessary planning, leaving us all exposed. It warns that instead of speeding up, progress on adapting to climate change is stalling.
The slowdown extends to finance, planning and implementation, says UNEP, with massive implications for loss and damage, particularly for the most vulnerable.
“Today’s report shows the gap in adaptation funding is the highest ever. The world must take action to close the adaptation gap and deliver climate justice,” said the UN Secretary-General António Guterres, commenting on the report’s findings.
The updated adaptation costs for developing countries are estimated at $215 billion to $387 billion annually this decade, reflecting higher estimates than previous studies which are bound to increase significantly by 2050.
And the needs of developing countries are 10-18 times higher than the flow of public financing – over 50 per cent higher than the previous estimated range.
Despite pledges made at COP26 in Glasgow to double adaptation finance support to around $40 billion per year by 2025, public multilateral and bilateral adaptation finance flows to developing countries declined by 15 per cent to around $21 billion in 2021.
Concurrently, the adaptation finance gap is now estimated to be $194-366 billion per year.
The report cites a recent study that indicates the 55 most climate-vulnerable economies alone have already experienced loss and damage valued at more than $500 billion in the last two decades.