Adaptation Gap Report Sees Finance Gap in Developing Countries

The IPPC defines Climate Adaptation as “the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate and its effects. In human systems, adaptation seeks to moderate or avoid harm or exploit beneficial opportunities. In some natural systems, human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate and its effects”. (IPCC 2022)

All countries feel the effects of climate change from intensifying storms, floods, heatwaves, and droughts, while actions to slash greenhouse gas emissions continue to weaken. These climate change impacts will affect the poor and vulnerable the most and reverse any economic gains made. Despite rising global temperatures, Copernicus announced that 2024’s average global temperature exceeded 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels over a calendar year. And, amid escalating climate impacts, UNEP’s 2025 Adaptation Gap Report finds that a yawning gap in adaptation finance for developing countries is putting lives, livelihoods, and entire economies at risk.

The UNEP Adaptation Gap Report 2025: Running on Empty — The world is gearing up for climate resilience — without the money to get there — provides an updated estimate of the cost of adaptation finance needed in developing countries. The report estimates that the climate adaptation finance needs of developing countries will range from US$310 to US$365 billion per year by 2035. Meanwhile, international public adaptation finance from developed to developing countries fell from US$28 billion in 2022 to US$26 billion in 2023. This means that developing countries are receiving less than 10% of the money they need to adapt to a world increasingly vulnerable to extreme weather, putting lives, livelihoods, and entire economies at risk.

This year’s analysis finds that 172 (87%) of the country Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change have a national adaptation planning instrument in place, a marginal increase from last year. This is a continuing trend inching towards the goal of seeing all countries having a national adaptation plan, strategy, or policy in place by 2030, as articulated in the planning target of the United Arab Emirates Framework for Global Climate Resilience (UAE FGCR).

Among the 25 countries still without a national adaptation plan, strategy, or policy, 21 have initiated a process to develop one, although half of these processes have been underway for 7–10 years.

The report highlights the economic soundness of climate adaptation investments. For instance, every US$1 spent on coastal protection prevents US$14 in damage; urban nature-based solutions reduce ambient temperatures by over 1°C on average, a significant improvement during summer heat; and health-related capacity-building can further reduce symptoms of heat stress.

UNEP’s 2025 Adaptation Gap Report Key Findings.

The Adaptation Gap Report (AGR) series provides regular updates on global progress in planning, implementation, and finance for adaptation to climate change, informing the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations ahead of the annual Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP). This year’s report finds that:

• The adaptation finance needs of developing countries by 2035 are at least 12 times greater than current international public adaptation finance flows.
• The Glasgow Climate Pact goal of doubling adaptation finance flows from 2019 to approximately US$40 billion by 2025 will be missed if current trends continue.
• The new collective quantified goal for climate finance (NCQG) is insufficient to meet developing countries’ adaptation finance needs in 2035.
• There is limited evidence of improved adaptation planning and implementation.

A global collective effort – a “mutirão global” as called for by the Brazilian COP 30 Presidency – is needed to bridge the finance gap and accelerate climate action, with both public and private finance having to step up. The AGR 2025 reflects on opportunities for the Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3T and on how the private sector can contribute to this effort.

Structure of the 2025 Adaptation Gap Report.

Chapter 1 provides a brief overview of the current scientific and policy landscape for understanding climate impacts and the value of adaptation, and highlights its connection to the international negotiation landscape under the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement.

Chapter 2 on global progress on adaptation planning assesses efforts towards some of the targets of the UAE FGCR related to the iterative adaptation cycle, as well as how these targets contribute to climate-resilient development through mainstreaming into national, subnational, and sectoral policy processes.

Chapter 3 on global progress on adaptation implementation, this section assesses adaptation efforts, particularly through an analysis of the BTRs, to inform opportunities for improved reporting in the context of the UAE FGCR and towards the second global stocktake.

Finally, Chapter 4 on the climate adaptation finance gap informs discussions on finance flows towards the Glasgow Climate Pact’s goal of doubling adaptation finance by 2025, the NCQG, and the Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3T. Chapter 4 also includes suggestions for bridging the gap, as well as an assessment of adaptation finance costs/ needs and the resulting finance gap in 2035, using the UAE FGCR’s framing.

“Adaptation is not a cost – it is a lifeline,” declared the UN chief. “Closing the adaptation gap is how we protect lives, deliver climate justice, and build a safer, more sustainable world. Let us not waste another moment”, says UN Secretary-General António Guterres (‘Yawning gap’ remains, 2025).

Access and read the entire report, Adaptation Gap Report 2025.