Kathmandu: Amid rising global temperatures and intensifying climate impacts, a yawning gap in adaptation finance for developing countries is putting lives, livelihoods, and entire economies at risk, according to the Adaptation Gap Report 2025: Running on Empty, released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
According to the press statement, the report released to inform negotiations at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, finds that while adaptation planning and implementation are improving, adaptation finance needs in developing countries by 2035 are over US$310 billion per year, 12 times as much as current international public adaptation finance flows.
“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 António Guterres in a 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. Let us not waste another moment.”
Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP, emphasized the urgent need for a global surge in adaptation funding. “Every person on this planet is living with the impacts of climate change: wildfires, heatwaves, desertification, floods, rising costs and more,” she said. “As action to cut greenhouse gas emissions continues to lag, these impacts will only worsen, harming more people and causing significant economic damage.”
“We need a global push to increase adaptation finance – from both public and private sources – without adding to the debt burdens of vulnerable nations. Even amid tight budgets and competing priorities, the reality is simple: if we do not invest in adaptation now, we will face escalating costs every year.”
