Lack of progress on adaptation agenda at COP 28 raises concerns

Low- and middle-income countries have expressed disappointment and concerns after zero progress was made on a framework to help the world increase its resilience to worsening climate shocks in the first week of the United Nations’ climate talks. The framework is due to guide countries’ action to deliver on the Global Goal on Adaptation, or GGA — one of the pillars of the Paris Climate Agreement — to enhance adaptive capacities, strengthen resilience, and reduce vulnerability to climate change. Why it matters: The increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events are threatening people’s lives and livelihoods, and greater action is needed to cope with the impacts of a warming world. This is particularly critical for 3.6 billion people who are highly vulnerable to climate change. But funding is falling woefully short. A recent U.N. report found that low-income countries’ adaptation needs are 10-18 times greater than the flow of finance. And the gap is widening. Low- and middle-income countries want the framework to help leverage more adaptation finance and guide transformations to a more resilient world. But unlike cutting emissions, there is no single metric to measure adaptation — making the task much more complex. What they’re saying: “Adaptation, which is a cornerstone of our climate action, continues to be relegated to the background,” said Madeleine Diouf Sarr, the Senegalese chair of a group of 46 least developed countries, or LDCs. “The results on the GGA are critical in improving the implementation of adaptation measures and rolling out specific projects in LDCs to build their resilience,” she added. The specifics: Without agreement on a text that can form the basis of negotiations, diplomats were granted an extra 26 hours to thrash out a draft before ministers take over negotiations on Saturday afternoon. Several sources close to the negotiations told Devex that Arab countries and a group of like-minded low- and middle-income nations, which include China and India, repeatedly blocked discussions with points of principles and procedures. Meanwhile, there remain significant divisions over what the framework should look like. African countries want to set measurable and time-bound targets for enhancing adaptation while high-income countries say targets should be specific to adaptation, rather than focus on general development. Low-income countries want associated financing to help them deliver on the adaptation goal — something high-income nations have resisted. The endgame: Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, warned countries that “posturing and undue procedural hindrances must not stand in the way of an effective outcome on this matter.” Addressing Friday’s plenary session, he said: “Even if we are successful in limiting global warming, huge changes are already in motion. We need to build a world resilient enough to manage those changes.”