Developing countries receive less than one-tenth of the finance they will need to adapt to cope with climate change, the UN has said, leaving a “yawning gap” for spending on projects such as flood defences or crop irrigation.
Adaptation costs in developing countries would range from $310bn to $365bn a year by midway through next decade, the UN’s environment programme estimated in its latest annual adaptation report.
By contrast, the international public adaptation finance flows for developing countries fell to $26bn last year compared to $28bn the year before. This is also well short of a pact countries made at the Glasgow UN climate summit in 2021 to raise about $40bn a year by 2025.