Excellencies and Colleagues,
Welcome to this COP30 event on UNEP’s Adaptation Report 2025: Running on empty.
Every nation is facing climate impacts, from heatwaves to floods to desertification. As we saw recently with Hurricane Melissa, these impacts are growing fiercer. Melissa, one of the strongest hurricanes recorded in the Caribbean, caused tragic loss of life and massive damage in Cuba and Jamaica.
According to Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holmes, the economic damages to his country alone could reach about one third of GDP.
So, we are seeing the impacts of climate change in real time. The poor and vulnerable are dying. Livelihoods are being damaged. Expensive infrastructure is being destroyed. And we will see more such impacts because, as UNEP’s Emissions Gap Report finds, the new Nationally Determined Contributions did not do enough to limit climate change. We are currently heading for 2.3-2.5°C of warming.
What this means is that every nation should be investing in climate adaptation. And developed nations should be financially supporting those developing countries least responsible for the climate crisis. Yet the Adaptation Gap Report tells us we are nowhere near where we need to be.
The report estimates that the adaptation finance needs of developing countries will be US$310 to US$365 billion per year by 2035. But international public adaptation finance from developed to developing countries actually fell from US$28 billion in 2022 to US$26 billion in 2023. There is a yawning finance gap.
In line with global adaptation finance goals, the Adaptation Gap Report tracks finance from developed countries to developing countries. In contrast, the recent Joint Multilateral Development Bank Report shows an increase in adaptation finance, as this report includes developing country contributions to Multilateral Development Banks, as well as non-flow instruments.
One thing is clear, however: unless finance starts pouring in, we will miss the Glasgow Climate Pact goal to finance adaptation in developing countries to the tune of US$40 billion per year by 2025, and the New Collective Quantified Goal for climate finance call to deliver at least US$300 billion for both mitigation and adaptation per year by 2035 will not be achieved.
Friends,
While the finance situation is worrying, we can see shoots of hope. In the first Biennial Transparency Reports (BTRs), adaptation is high on the agenda for many nations. Analysis of the over 1,600 adaptation actions in the BTRs shows efforts on biodiversity and ecosystems, food and agriculture, water and sanitation, and infrastructure and human settlements. Meanwhile, two thirds of countries report at least one instance of integrating adaptation into non-climate plans or strategies, with Small Island Developing States particularly strong in this area. This mainstreaming is important.
The report also finds that 172 countries have at least one national adaptation policy, strategy or plan in place, and that support for new projects under the Adaptation Fund, the Global Environment Facility and the Green Climate Fund grew, although this might not be a trend.
So, the basis for accelerated adaptation action is increasingly there. Now we need the finance to flow. The Baku to Belém Roadmap, being considered at this COP, could make a huge difference by enabling the raising of US$1.3 trillion per year by 2035. For the roadmap to work, new finance providers and instruments must come on board. Climate resilience must become an integral part of financial decision-making. Efforts must focus on concessional finance and grants to avoid increasing the debt burden of vulnerable nations. The private sector can also deliver up to US$50 billion a year, ten times its current contribution to adaptation.
Other innovative finance mechanisms like the Tropical Forest Forever Facility, which was launched by the Brazilian Government last week, will mobilize public, private and philanthropy resources to increase finance flows. Over US$5.5 billion has been announced so far with more commitments expected. More than 70 developing countries with tropical forests will be eligible to receive funds to protect and restore tropical forests, meaning this could be one of the largest multilateral funds ever created.
Friends,
The Adaptation Gap Report delivers a clear message: we need a global push to fill up the adaptation finance tank from both public and private sources.
Budgets are tight. There are competing priorities. But the smart choice is to invest in adaptation now – to minimize loss of life, reduce damage to infrastructure and protect economies. Either we pay now, or we pay far more later.
