World faces serious human and economic harm if climate adaptation is not accelerated: UN report

• Nearly three-quarters of nations have at least one adaptation plan, but funding and implementation are well below what is needed.

• The annual costs of adaptation in developing countries are estimated at US$ 70 billion and this figure is expected to reach US$ 140-300 billion by 2030.

• Nature-based solutions are critical and need to receive more attention.

Nairobi, 14 January 2021 – As temperatures rise and the effects of climate change intensify, nations must take urgent action to adapt to the new climate reality, otherwise they will face serious costs, damage and losses, according to a new report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Adaptation, that is, reducing the vulnerability of countries and communities by increasing their capacity to absorb the effects of climate change, is a key pillar of the Paris Agreement. Under this treaty, signatories must implement adaptation measures through national plans, climate information systems, early warnings, protection actions and investments in a green future.

UNEP’s 2020 Adaptation Gap Report found that while nations have made progress in planning, greater efforts are needed to increase financing in developing countries and accelerate the implementation of projects so that they can actually provide protection against droughts, floods, sea-level rise or other effects of climate change.

According to the report, nature-based solutions must become a priority: these are actions appropriate to local contexts that take into account social challenges such as climate change, and provide human well-being and benefits for biodiversity by protecting, sustainably managing and restoring natural or modified ecosystems.

“The hard truth is that climate change is already here. Its effects will intensify and hit vulnerable countries and communities hardest, even if we reach the Paris Agreement goal of keeping global warming well below 2°C this century and try to reach the 1.5°C target,” said Inger Andersen, UNEP Executive Director.

“As UN Secretary-General António Guterres has said, we need a global commitment to allocate half of all global climate finance to adaptation next year. This will allow for a major push for adaptation, from early warning systems and greater resilience of water resources, to nature-based solutions,” added the UNEP Executive Director.

Planning is growing, but funding and tracking are lagging behind

The most encouraging finding of the report is that 72 per cent of countries have adopted at least one adaptation planning tool at the national level and most developing countries are preparing national adaptation plans. However, the funding needed to implement these plans is not growing fast enough.

Financial support for adaptation is indeed growing, but it continues to be outweighed by the rapidly rising costs of adaptation. Annual adaptation costs in developing countries are estimated at $70 billion and this figure is expected to reach $140-300 billion in 2030 and $280-500 billion in 2050.

There is some encouraging progress. The Green Climate Fund has earmarked 40% of its total portfolio for adaptation and is concentrating growing private sector investment. Another important development is the growing momentum to ensure a sustainable financial system. New tools such as sustainability investment criteria, climate-related disclosure principles and climate-related risk assessment in investment decisions can stimulate resilience investments.

The implementation of adaptation actions is also growing. Since 2006, nearly 400 adaptation projects financed by multilateral funds in the service of the Paris Agreement have been carried out in developing countries. While previous projects rarely exceeded $10 million, since 2017 there have been 21 new projects worth more than $25 million. Of the more than 1,700 adaptation initiatives analyzed, only 3% have reported real reductions in climate risks faced by the communities where the projects are being executed.

Nature-based solutions can make a big contribution

The report focuses in particular on nature-based solutions as low-cost options that reduce climate risks, restore and protect biodiversity, and bring benefits to communities and economies.

An analysis of four major climate and development funds — the Global Environment Facility, the Green Climate Fund, the Adaptation Fund and the International Climate Initiative — concluded that support for initiatives with some element of nature-based solutions has increased over the past two decades.

Cumulative investment for climate change mitigation and adaptation projects through the four funds amounted to $94 billion, but only $12 billion went to nature-based solutions, a small fraction of the total financing for adaptation and conservation.

Stepping up action

According to the report, reducing greenhouse gas emissions will mitigate the effects and costs associated with climate change. Reaching the Paris Agreement’s 2°C target could limit losses in annual global growth to 1.6%, compared to the 2.2% losses that would be faced if the current 3°C trajectory is continued.

All nations must commit to the efforts outlined in UNEP’s 2020 Emissions Gap Report, which called for a sustainable recovery from the pandemic and to update Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) with new commitments to achieve net zero emissions. However, the world must also plan, finance and implement climate change adaptation to support the nations least responsible for climate change, which are also most at risk.

While the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to affect countries’ ability to adapt to climate change, investing in adaptation is a profitable economic decision, according to the report.

Source: UN