Drop in the bucket

Adaptation finance needed by developing countries is 10-18 times as high as current flows, says the latest UNEP report

- ROHINI KRISHNAMURTHY

AS THE world gets set to meet in Dubai for the 28th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, there is hope for progress in mobilising finance for climate action. At a preparatory event for the upcoming UN climate conference (cop28) held in October, cop28 President Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber called for efforts to double adaptation finance to US $40 billion by 2025, as planned at cop26 two years ago. But even if the world achieves this goal, it would only close the adaptation financing gap by 5-10 per cent, suggests a new report by the UN Environment Programme (unep).

Adaptation gap—the difference between estimated financing needs for adapting to climate change and actual finance flows—is growing even as climate change wreaks havoc, says unep’s “Adaptation Gap Report 2023”, released on November 2. Developing countries need $215 billion to $387 billion for adaptation every year, which is 1018 times as high as current fund flows of $21.3 billion (as of 2021), says the report. In other words, adaptation gap is between $194 billion and $366 billion per year.