The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says vulnerable communities disproportionately affected by global warming are being given ‘insufficient’ funds to help adapt to extreme climate impacts.
The report noted that “Current global financial flows for adaptation are insufficient for, and constrain implementation of, adaptation options, especially in developing countries.”
According to the IPCC’s scientists, time for adaptation action is rapidly running out because measures will increasingly become ‘constrained and less effective’ as temperatures rise.
One of the authors of the report, Aditi Mukherjee, said that the lack of funding forces low-income countries into further debt.
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According to the OECD’s most recent assessment, loans made up 71% of public climate finance in 2020, with grants playing a much smaller role.
“It is a huge injustice”, Mukherjee said. “Least developed countries and coastal communities who have not caused the problem are now having to take loans to solve the problem. It makes hardly any sense.”
The IPCC report provides a summary of the current understanding of climate change science, as well as its effects, hazards, and advancements in mitigation and adaptation. After a week-long meeting in Switzerland, the wording was adopted by all member nations.
Story was adapted from Climate Home News
