Climate adaptation finance meets less than 10% of what is needed: CSI

PTI | New Delhi

Climate adaptation finance currently meets less than 10 per cent of the estimated USD 310-365 billion required each year, and support continues to trail far behind mitigation efforts, the Climate and Sustainability Initiative (CSI) has warned in a White Paper released on Monday.

Adaptation funding dropped to about USD 26 billion in 2023, and even doubling this amount under the Glasgow Climate Pact would narrow the gap by only around 5 per cent, it claimed.

In its report, ‘Bridging Global Agendas and Local Realities: Reflections on the COP30 Agenda,’ CSI said adaptation finance remains severely underfunded, fragmented, and inequitable despite increasing global commitments.

With COP30 in Belem, Brazil, positioned as the “Implementation COP”, the paper stresses the urgency of converting international climate pledges into “tangible, local action.”

A major barrier, the paper noted, is the lack of standardised metrics.

There is still no universally accepted adaptation taxonomy or agreed set of indicators to measure adaptation progress and systemic risks.

CSI said that securing consensus on a core set of qualitative and quantitative indicators for the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) is likely to be one of the most critical — and contentious — tasks at COP30.

The White Paper argues that bridging the

gap between global

ambition and local implementation demands a systems approach that aligns adaptation and Nature-based Solutions (NbS) with localised financial requirements.

To support this, CSI endorsed the BRIDGE Framework, presented as an evidence-based and replicable model to mobilise domestic and international capital for resilience-building.

The framework comprises six pillars: baseline mapping, realignment and mainstreaming, institutional finance readiness, designing financial solutions such as blended finance, governance strengthening, and empowering local communities.

CSI said its call to action is for COP30 to shift global climate governance from merely acknowledging vulnerability to directly financing resilience.

This includes improving access to public and grant-based finance and integrating financing arrangements into national public financial management systems.