With typhoons tearing across Southeast Asia this week while areas of Jamaica and Brazil are clearing debris after damaging storms, delegates at Brazil’s COP30 summit began grappling with how best to help the vulnerable withstand worsening weather and other climate extremes.
The topic of “adaptation” has grown more important as countries fail to rein in climate-warming emissions enough to prevent extreme warming linked to increasingly frequent weather disasters across the planet. A UN report last month said developing countries alone would need up to $310bn (R5.3-trillion) every year by 2035 to prepare.
Where the money will come from is unclear. Ten of the world’s development banks, under pressure to free more cash for climate action, said on Monday they would continue to support the need.
“Lives, well-being and jobs cannot be sustained where homes, schools, farms and businesses are under threat from flooding, drought or other climate extremes,” the banks said in a statement. Last year, they channelled more than $26bn (R446.3bn) to low- and middle-income economies for adaptation.
Separately, the director of a multipartner UN fund told Reuters it would soon announce a new impact bond aimed at raising $200m (R3.4bn) by the end of 2026.
“The whole bond idea started exactly one year ago at the previous COP in Baku,” said Markus Repnik, who leads the Systematic Observations Financing Facility backed by the World Meteorological Organisation, UN Development Programme and UN Environment Fund. “We were getting the sense things are going to change significantly from an international perspective.”
The fund, which also works to plug gaps in weather data for developing countries, hopes for country donations this week during COP30.
On Monday, Germany and Spain pledged $100m (R1.7bn) to a different effort, the multilateral Climate Investment Funds (CIF), which is financing projects to boost climate resilience in developing countries.
The organisation’s chief praised Brazil for featuring the issue as a COP30 focus after years of seeing it slide down UN climate summit agendas.
“We’re thrilled that, for the first time, adaptation is day 1 and day 2 of the COP,” CIF CEO Tariye Gbadegesin told Reuters.
RISING DANGERS, HIGHER COSTS
Vietnam estimated initial costs from Typhoon Kalmaegi at nearly $300m, a month after Typhoon Bualoi delivered $436m in property damages. The Philippines is tallying damages from Kalmaegi and the deadly Super Typhoon Fung-wong that hit this week.
Jamaica is looking at up to $7bn in damages, or about a third of its GDP, from last month’s Hurricane Melissa, according to preliminary government estimates.
Beyond storms, there is damage from flooding, extreme heat, drought and wildfires. More adaptation efforts are to be announced at COP30, from funding air-conditioners and fans for people suffering extreme heat to AI mapping of soil conditions to improve crop yields.
Outside of national protections, about 86-million refugees, or three-quarters of the world’s total population displaced by conflict, are also exposed to extreme climate hazards, according to a UNHCR report on Monday.
UN climate chief Simon Stiell urged countries to agree on how to track progress to accelerate change in water, sanitation, health and other areas.
“We need to agree on the indicators that will help speed up implementation, to unleash its potential,” he said.
Attracting private money to the cause can be tough. Resiliency projects are less likely to deliver a high return on investment than renewable energy projects that would help bring down greenhouse gas emissions.
A September report by multi-stakeholder Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance said public funding remains crucial. Private finance makes up only 3% of adaptation funding, which could rise to 15% with supportive policies, it said.
David Nicholson, chief climate officer at ZCRA member Mercy Corps, said: “We need resources that flow directly to local partners and communities who are leading the response, rebuilding homes, restoring livelihoods and protecting health systems from climate shocks.”
Reuters
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