The United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Adaptation Gap Report 2024, titled Come Hell and High Water, has underscored the urgent need for a drastic increase in climate adaptation efforts, especially through committed financial support at COP29.

Key Highlights of the Adaptation Gap Report 2024

• Rising Demand for Adaptation Finance: Developing countries’ adaptation finance needs are estimated at $387 billion annually by 2030. In 2022, adaptation finance flows to these countries reached $28 billion, an increase from $22 billion in 2021, though still far short of actual needs.The Glasgow Climate Pact goal of doubling adaptation finance from $19 billion in 2019 to $38 billion by 2025 is insufficient to bridge the estimated $187-359 billion adaptation finance gap.

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• Mounting Climatic Threats and Impacts: The report details recent extreme weather disasters, such as the September floods in Nepal and catastrophic summer floods across Africa, which devastated communities with high death tolls and displacement. 
  • These events emphasize the urgent need for financial and strategic adaptation support.
  • Global warming, primarily driven by emissions from developed nations, has intensified these events, placing additional strain on developing countries that have historically contributed the least to greenhouse gas emissions.
• Slow Progress on National Adaptation Plans: While 171 countries have at least one national adaptation planning document, implementation remains slow.
  • Notably, 10 countries lack any formal adaptation plan, and seven of these are conflict-affected or fragile states needing significant tailored support.
  • The report points out that project-based financing has proven unsustainable, with half of the projects unlikely to endure without continued funding.
• New UAE Framework for Global Climate Resilience: Established at COP28, this framework sets dimensional targets (e.g., planning, implementation, monitoring) and thematic targets (e.g., agriculture, water, health) to guide adaptation efforts, but lacks the metrics needed to track progress effectively.

Bridging the Adaptation Finance Gap

• The UNEP report stresses the need for innovative financing models beyond high-interest loans, which only increase developing countries’ debt. 
• The Suggested mechanisms include:

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• • Risk Finance and Insurance-Linked Instruments: These financial instruments help countries manage and transfer climate-related risks to investors, providing them with financial protection against natural disasters.
  • Performance-Based Grants and Resilience Credits: These reward countries for achieving specific climate change mitigation and adaptation goals, incentivizing ambitious action.
  • Debt-for-Adaptation Swaps: These financial instruments allow countries to reduce their debt burdens in exchange for investments in climate adaptation projects, freeing up resources for climate action.
  • Payments for Ecosystem Services: These compensate individuals and organizations for conserving and restoring ecosystems, which play a crucial role in climate regulation and biodiversity preservation.
• Reforms within international financial institutions and multilateral development banks could further support this adaptation financing.Shifting to Transformational Adaptation
• To address long-term climate risks, the report advocates for a move from reactive, short-term measures to “transformational adaptation,” focusing on strategic, anticipatory efforts across challenging sectors.
• Transformational adaptation was controversial at COP28 due to the lack of a clear definition, but it was ultimately recognized in the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA). 
  • Developing countries remain concerned about implementation due to capacity.

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