2021 has shown very clearly – in both climate impacts and warnings from science – that we must step up efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, at COP26 and beyond, to avoid climate catastrophe. But we need to be clear: even if we were to turn off the tap on greenhouse gas emissions today, the impacts of climate change would be with us for decades to come. We also need to adapt to the climate impacts that are already here and growing stronger.
What the sixth edition of the UNEP Adaptation Gap Report shows is that the message still doesn’t seem to have been taken on board. Yes, implementation of adaptation actions has grown. Yes, adaptation is increasingly being embedded in policy and planning across the world. But the money to back such action still isn’t flowing at the levels required.
Estimated adaptation costs in developing countries are five to ten times greater than current public adaptation finance flows. The evidence indicates that this gap is widening – in part due to a growing understanding of just how much adaptation will cost.
The COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t helped. The higher cost of servicing debt, combined with decreased government revenues, is likely to reduce government spending on adaptation, particularly in developing countries. The recovery from the pandemic could help. But stimulus packages so far have not backed adaptation measures to any serious level.
It is clear we are not doing enough on adaptation – to support and protect not just the most-vulnerable communities and countries, but those in wealthy nations who are increasingly finding themselves under the gathering storm.
We need more finance, public and private, including through remaining efforts to help economies recover from COVID-19. We need faster and stronger implementation. We need to turn the growth in policy and planning into action. And we need to do it now.
