As negotiators, civil society, and climate experts gathered in Bonn for the June climate negotiations in Bonn, one message emerged clearly: we cannot leave COP30 in Belém without a substantial outcome on adaptation finance.
Adaptation is essential for protecting people and ecosystems from the impacts of climate change. For the millions of people already facing rising seas, prolonged droughts, or devastating floods, adaptation finance is not a luxury; it is a lifeline. Yet, the funding needed to support these efforts in developing countries only covers a tiny fraction of what is needed; and when adaptation finance falls short, it is the most vulnerable people – including women, children, Indigenous Peoples, people with disabilities, and others – who are most severely affected and bear the brunt of climate impacts.
The widening adaptation finance gap
The urgency of the adaptation finance gap is hard to ignore. According to UNEP’s 2024 Adaptation Gap Report, developing countries need around $300 billion per year to adequately adapt to climate change. However, in 2022 only $28 billion of international climate finance flowed towards adaptation.
This year marks the end of the commitment made at COP26 in Glasgow to double adaptation finance from 2019 levels by 2025. Whether this goal will be met remains to be seen. But what is clear is that without a new, concrete target to replace it, adaptation will continue to be severely underfunded in the years to come, and progress on adaptation in the UNFCCC framework will remain blocked.
Signs of progress on adaptation finance
While the Bonn climate talks do not deliver final decisions – those are reserved for COP30 – they were a crucial opportunity to build momentum and shape future outcomes. Shockingly, there is currently no formal space to get agreement on adaptation finance, but this just meant that it featured prominently in multiple negotiating tracks.
For example, in the finance discussions, there was a proposal from the Least Developed Countries (LDCs – representing 44 countries across Africa, Asia, the Pacific and the Caribbean) to triple the commitment made in Glasgow by 2030.
And while the negotiations on the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) were undoubtedly difficult, there was acknowledgement that progress on adaptation cannot be separated from the finance that enables it. This was particularly promoted by Grupo SUR (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) and gained support from other developing countries in the room.
Why public adaptation finance matters more than private
While there is much talk of the need for private adaptation finance, forthcoming research from the Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance finds that currently, private finance flows for adaptation only amount to a meagre 2–3% of actual needs.
Looking ahead, this could potentially increase, but only up to 15–20% of adaptation needs across all developing countries, and for LDCs, this would only be 5%. Thus while private finance can play a complementary role, it will not be sufficient on its own.
Many negotiators raised concerns that current finance negotiations are too focused on mobilizing finance (i.e. leveraging private finance through public resources), while neglecting the obligation of developed countries to provide public finance.
Calls for the provision of international public climate finance did not come without resistance. The first two days of the talks in Bonn were marked by a tense agenda fight; developing countries pushed to create space for discussions on how developed countries would fulfil their obligations from the Paris Agreement to provide climate finance, as this was not properly reflected in the New Collective Quantified Goal agreed at COP29. The outcome reached in Bonn was a compromise; the Bonn co-chairs conducted informal consultations, and will report back at COP30. While this fell short of what many hoped for, it keeps the issue alive and provides an entry point for stronger commitments from developed countries in Belém.
Without adaptation finance, COP30 will be perceived as a failure
At the end of a sometimes-difficult couple of weeks, what came into sharp focus is both the need for increased adaptation finance, and the opportunity that COP30 presents. This political window of opportunity needs to be captured – especially in light of the Glasgow commitment’s expiry, Brazil’s championing of adaptation, and the momentum from the Bonn negotiations. As we head toward COP30, negotiators must translate this potential into real outcomes.
That means delivering a clear, ambitious, and equitable new commitment for adaptation finance; one that reflects the scale of the challenge and the urgency of the need. It also means recognizing that public finance must form the backbone of global adaptation efforts, especially in the world’s most vulnerable countries, and be responsive to the needs of the most vulnerable people.
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