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Nairobi – A few days before the start of the COP29 global climate conference in Azerbaijan, the UN Environment Program (UNEP) is warning of a massive financing gap for adaptation to climate change.

It is extremely important to provide sufficient resources for adaptation, emphasized Paul Watkiss, one of the authors of this year’s “Adaptation Gap Report”. According to Watkiss, it is much more expensive to have to pay for losses and damage caused by climate-related events than to finance preventative measures.

Donor countries are definitely moving in the right direction: adaptation financing for developing countries increased from 22 billion US dollars (20.5 billion euros) in 2021 to 28 billion US dollars (26 billion euros) in 2022. The goal of increasing adaptation financing to at least $38 billion (€35.4 billion) by 2025 can still be achieved, the report says.

Nevertheless, the authors emphasized that there needs to be more money much faster. According to UNEP calculations, the amount needed annually to adapt to climate change – especially in developing countries – is between 187 and 359 billion US dollars (174 and 334 billion euros). Along with France, Great Britain, Japan and the United States, Germany is one of the largest donors of international climate finance.

So far, it has often only been short-term, project-related measures

It is important to invest in forward-looking, strategic and transformative adaptation measures and less – as has often been the case so far – to finance short-term, project-related and reactive measures. However, this will only be possible if the “enormous gap” in funding needs is drastically reduced, UNEP said.

171 countries worldwide now have at least one climate adaptation strategy of their own. However, 26 countries have not yet developed a national planning instrument. Seven of these are fragile, conflict-affected states that need “significant tailored support,” according to UNEP.

“The consequences of climate change pose a real threat to people, their livelihoods and the nature on which they depend,” said UNEP Director Inger Andersen. Storms destroyed villages and towns, while forest fires, land degradation and drought destroyed landscapes. “If we don’t act, this is a foretaste of what our future holds,” Andersen said. © dpa/aerzteblatt.de