Unfinished Business: How to close the post-Paris adaptation finance gap
Climate change is a brutal reality confronting millions of the world’s most vulnerable people. Their need for financial support to adapt to climate extremes is urgent and rising.
International support for adaptation falls well short of what is needed. Latest estimates indicate that only 16 percent of international climate finance is currently dedicated to adaptation – a mere $4–6bn per year of which is public finance. Governments in Paris came close, but ultimately failed to agree quantified goals to ensure adaptation finance increases at anywhere close to the scale needed in future.
If global cooperation on climate change is to be inclusive, durable and fair, it must leave no one behind. The adaptation finance gap must be addressed urgently with agreement at COP22 in Morocco on a roadmap for the $100bn commitment – one that includes quantified goals for adaptation finance, and progress on accounting and governance of finance flows.