UNEP releases its ‘2025 Adaptation Gap Report’

Amid rising global temperatures and worsening climate impacts, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has released its “2025 Adaptation Gap Report: Running on Empty”, warning that a severe shortfall in adaptation finance for developing nations is endangering lives, livelihoods, and entire economies.

Key Findings of the Report

• Massive Adaptation Finance Gap:
  Developing countries will require $310–365 billion annually by 2035 to cope with accelerating climate impacts.
  • $310 billion – Model-based estimate of annual adaptation costs.
  • $365 billion – Estimate derived from Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs).
• Falling Adaptation Finance Flows:
  • International public finance for adaptation fell to $26 billion in 2023, down from $28 billion in 2022.
  • This leaves a finance gap of $284–339 billion annually.
  • Adaptation needs are now 12–14 times higher than current funding levels.

Escalating Climate Threats

Developing nations are already confronting:

• Rapid-onset impacts: Extreme rainfall, tropical cyclones, flash floods, landslides, and heatwaves.
• Slow-onset impacts: Prolonged droughts, sea-level rise, glacial melt, and ice sheet loss.

UNEP cautioned that without significant financial and policy interventions, these compounding threats could reverse decades of progress in poverty reduction and sustainable development.

Missed Targets and Future Goals

• The report warned that the Glasgow Climate Pact goal of doubling adaptation finance from 2019 levels to $40 billion by 2025 will not be achieved if current trends continue.
• The New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance, agreed at COP29 (Baku, Azerbaijan), calls for $300 billion annually by 2035 from developed to developing nations — but even this figure falls short of what is required to close the adaptation finance gap.

The Baku to Belém Roadmap

• The Baku to Belém Roadmap, adopted at COP29, aims to mobilize at least $1.3 trillion annually by 2035 for developing countries.
• The roadmap will be finalized at COP30 in Belém, Brazil.
• UNEP emphasized that while the initiative may improve funding prospects, it must be implemented carefully to avoid deepening vulnerabilities in poorer nations.

UNEP’s Call to Action

• UNEP urged developed nations, international financial institutions, and private investors to dramatically scale up adaptation finance. Without immediate and substantial investment, the report warns, developing countries will be left “running on empty” in the face of intensifying climate threats.

Source: UNEP