Boat dwellers inspect the floods that flow from the Tittabawassee River to downtown downtown on May 20, 2020 in Midland, Michigan.
Gregory Shamus | Getty Images
Governments around the world must significantly increase climate adaptation measures to avoid major economic damage from global warming, according to the fifth edition of the United Nations Environment Program’s adaptation gap report.
Nations are expected to allocate half of all global climate finance to adaptation next year in order to avoid the worst impact of climate change, according to the report published on Thursday. In 2020, the warmest year on record, along with 2016, the world experienced record hurricanes and forest fires that continue to intensify with rising temperatures.
That commitment would include investing in nature-based solutions to mitigate climate change, such as practices such as replanting trees on degraded land, sequestering more carbon in the soil through agricultural practices and protecting forests through changes in logging practices.
Almost 75% of nations have adopted some form of adaptation to the climate. But there are still big funding gaps in developing countries, which are more vulnerable to rising temperatures, as well as in projects that have markedly reduced climate risk, the report said.
The UN estimated that annual costs of adaptation to climate could reach between US $ 140 billion and US $ 300 billion by the end of the decade and between US $ 280 billion and US $ 500 billion by 2050, and concluded that global action is very late.
And while climate adaptation projects are on the rise, the continued increase in global carbon emissions is putting these projects at risk.
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Under the Paris Climate Agreement, the five-year global pact between nearly 200 nations, governments are trying to keep global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, compared to pre-industrial levels.
The world is still on its way to temperatures rising more than 3 degrees Celsius, or 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit, in this century.
The report said that reaching the target of 2 degrees Celsius could limit the economic loss in annual growth to up to 1.6%, compared to 2.2% for warming to 3 degrees Celsius and urged nations to update their targets under the Paris agreement to include new net zero carbon targets.
“The harsh truth is that climate change is coming,” said Inger Andersen, UNEP’s executive director, in a statement. “Its impacts will intensify and reach vulnerable countries and communities more strongly – even if we meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.”
The report also called on governments to prioritize climate change in their Covid-19 economic recovery plans, including a shift from fossil fuels to investing in green technologies and restoring ecosystems.
The world’s largest economies have committed more than $ 12 trillion in recovering economies, according to the International Monetary Fund.