Paris:
The world is far from ready for the “disaster” caused by climate change and must urgently prepare for worse in the future, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday.
Global efforts to adapt to climate change – from building defensive sea walls to planting drought-resistant crops – have not kept pace as global warming accelerates the frequency and intensity of disasters.
Floods, fires and other climate shocks have hit almost every continent in a year that will almost certainly be the hottest on record, according to the EU climate monitor.
The amount of money going to poorer countries for adaptation measures was barely a tenth of what they needed to disaster-proof their fragile economies, the UN Environment Program (UNEP) said in a new assessment covering 2022, the last year for which data are available. is available.
“Climate disasters are the new reality. And we are not keeping up,” Guterres said at the launch of UNEP's annual Adaptation Gap Report.
Rich countries are under pressure at this month's UN COP29 summit to substantially increase the $100 billion they have pledged for climate action in the developing world, including for adaptation.
But some donor governments are under fiscal and political pressure, and major new commitments of public money are not expected at the Azerbaijan conference.
A UN biodiversity meeting this month failed to reach a funding deal and the election of Donald Trump – who opposes global climate cooperation – hangs over COP29.
No one is immune
Most of the public money spent on climate change goes toward reducing global warming emissions, not adapting to its long-term effects.
In 2022, approximately $28 billion in government financing was paid to developing countries for climate adaptation.
This was an increase from the previous year, but still a drop in the bucket: UNEP estimates that between $215 billion and $387 billion are needed annually for adaptation in developing countries.
Rich countries had pledged to double the amount to roughly $40 billion a year by 2025, but even this would leave an “extremely large” financing gap for adaptation purposes, UNEP said.
Climate disasters hit the poorest communities hardest, but the costs of inaction are no longer borne alone, says Patrick Verkooijen, CEO of the Global Center on Adaptation.
“From rising seas and extreme heatwaves to brutal droughts and floods, the impacts of climate change are now reaching every corner of the world. No country, no community is immune,” he said in a statement.
Spanish authorities were accused of being inadequately prepared when a major storm caused flooding last month that killed more than 200 people.
Climate scientists say global warming is leading to more frequent and severe extreme weather.
“We cannot delay protection. We have to adapt now,” Guterres said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Our staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)