Climate adaptation aid must reach $305bn a year, UN says

Developing countries will need $305 billion a year by 2035 to adapt to climate change, nearly 10 times what they currently receive from developed countries, a new UN report said on November 4.

The report said developed countries provided between $28.2 billion and $31.7 billion in adaptation finance in 2024. It said that was only a modest increase from the previous year and below a COP26 commitment to double adaptation finance from 2019 levels to $40 billion a year by 2025.

Climate finance is expected to be a major issue when negotiators from nearly 200 countries meet at the UN COP31 climate summit in Antalya, Turkey, from November 9 to 20.

Adaptation finance pays for measures meant to protect countries from climate impacts, such as sea walls, levees, drought-resistant crops and stronger homes.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the latest Adaptation Gap Report showed that developing countries receive only 10 cents for every dollar they need for adaptation. He said the missing elements were money and political will.

At COP30 in Brazil last year, countries adopted an agreement calling for efforts to triple adaptation finance by 2035. UNEP said that goal would raise annual funding to between $85 billion and $120 billion, depending on how the decision is interpreted, and would cover only 20% to 29% of estimated needs.

The report also said the first funding round for a loss and damage fund created at COP27 produced requests worth $2.8 billion, above an initial envelope of $342 million. UNEP said the size of the financing gap for that fund is not yet known.