NEW DELHI: A new UN report, released Wednesday, warned that developing countries will need at least $310-365 billion per year by 2035 for taking adaptation measures to protect lives, livelihoods, and economies from the impact of climate change, but the current financing lags far behind at around $26 billion (2023 values) – 12-14 times less than what is actually needed by them. Released by the UN Environment Programme, the report said the “world is gearing up for climate resilience without the money to get there”.It underlined that though overall adaptation planning and implementation are improving, the Glasgow Climate Pact goal of doubling international public adaptation finance to $40 billion by 2025 from 2019 levels will not be achieved, and this gap will put millions at greater risk from floods, heatwaves and storms. International public adaptation finance flows to developing countries, in fact, declined from $28 billion in 2022 to $26 billion in 2023.”Climate impacts are accelerating. Yet adaptation finance is not keeping pace, leaving the world’s most vulnerable exposed to rising seas, deadly storms, and searing heat,” said UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres in his message on the report. “Adaptation is not a cost – it is a lifeline. Closing the adaptation gap is how we protect lives, deliver climate justice, and build a safer, more sustainable world.” The report, released ahead of the annual UN climate conference (CO) in Brazil, also flagged that the new goal for climate finance that calls for developed nations to provide at least $300 billion for climate action in developing countries per year by 2035 is “insufficient to close the finance gap”.Though the amount ($300 billion per year) was agreed at COP29 in Baku last year, developing countries, including India, expressed strong objections to it as they wanted it to be raised to $1.3 trillion per year by 2035.The report said if the past decade’s inflation rate is extended to 2035, the estimated adaptation finance needed by developing countries goes from $310-365 billion per year in 2023 prices to $440-520 billion per year.
