‘The most vulnerable people and communities are paying the price’: Adapting to climate change could cost developing countries $340 billion by the end of the decade

Over the summer, countries around the world from the U.S. to China experienced record-high temperatures and extreme droughts. In some places rivers are drying up, while in others severe flooding has killed thousands. 

A new report released by the UN Environment Programme on Thursday found that by 2030, developing countries will need up to $340 billion per year to adapt to climate change.

“The temperature ranges we are currently looking at over the decades to come—even with mitigation—will turn the climate impacts we are seeing now into knockout blows for generations to come,” the UN Environment Programme’s executive director, Inger Andersen, wrote in the report.

Currently, the international finance flowing to developing countries is five to 10 times lower than what’s needed—contributing a total of $29 billion in funding to developing countries in 2020, according to the report. That’s an increase of 4% from the previous year, but it’s not enough to adapt to the accelerating impact of climate change.  

“The world is falling far short both in stopping the growth of greenhouse gas emissions and starting desperately needed efforts to plan, finance and implement adaptation in light of growing risks,” UN Secretary General António Guterres said in a statement about the report. “Adaptation needs in the developing world are set to skyrocket to as much as $340 billion a year by 2030. Yet adaptation support today stands at less than one-tenth of that amount. The most vulnerable people and communities are paying the price. This is unacceptable.”

The report was released ahead of the COP27 climate summit scheduled to begin on Sunday in Egypt.

The report recommends increasing financial support to developing countries, cutting emissions, while also working to soften the blow of the “losses and damages” of climate change that can’t be prevented.

“We need pedal to the metal acceleration in scientific research, innovative planning, finance and implementation and deeper international cooperation,” Andersen said. “If we don’t want to spend the coming decades in emergency response mode, dealing with disaster after disaster, we need to get ahead of the game.”