Preparing for that impacts of global warming will pay back the first investment as much as 10 times over, saving trillions of dollars by 2030.
That is based on a brand new report published on Tuesday through the Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA), led by former UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, businessman Bill gates, and CEO of the World Bank Kristalina Georgieva.
The report gives concrete examples of the ways costs and losses related to climate risks could be avoided.
For instance, a 24-hour warning system for any coming storm or heat wave could reduce ensuing damage by 30%, based on the report. Investing $800 million on warning systems in developing countries could avoid losses as high as $16 billion per year.
Most efforts to tackle global warming have focused on emissions reduction. Christiana Figueres, former head of the UN Global warming, called the report a “breakthrough”.
“For years we view adaptation as being the Cinderella of climate change, way behind mitigation. Adaptation and mitigation would be the two sides of the same coin. Either we delay and pay, or we have a plan and prosper,” she said.
Developing countries said within their commitments to the Paris Agreement that they'll need $50 billion a year for adaptation between 2023 and 2030 – a figure much lower than the estimated costs of adaptation, according to a UN Environment Programme report published this past year.
But while money flowing to finance adaptation projects remains largely insufficient, the payback on purchase of adaptation is huge, the GCA said.
The report discovered that for every $1 committed to climate adaptation, investors could see between $2 and $10 of net economic benefit. Investing $1.8 trillion globally by 2030 in five identified areas, could generate $7.1 trillion in paybacks.
Research by the World Bank shows that without adaptation, the inequality gap will widen and climate change impacts could push a lot more than 100 million people underneath the poverty line by 2030.
Patrick Verkooijen, co-director of the Global Focus on Adaptation and a contributor to the report, warned that by failing to tackle the climate emergency directly, “we risk climate apartheid”.
“Our report is a message of hope,” he explained, adding that such preparations were “the best investments” that could be made.
Calling on world leaders to take stock from the report, former UN chief Ban said he did not know “where the fervour and commitment of world leaders had gone” since Donald Trump announced his intention to withdraw the united states in the Paris deal. A move he explained, were built with a “deep political and psychological impacts” on other countries.
“Without the political will, this report will not fly,” he warned, calling for “strong partnerships” between governments, businesses and civil society.
“More than ever before, we want political leadership,” he explained.
The five sectors where investments might trigger significant economic benefits were early warning systems, resilient infrastructure, agriculture, protecting mangroves and water-resilience.
Making new infrastructure climate resilient could see economic returns four times the size of the first investment. With $60 trillion of infrastructure investment anticipated over the next decade, “the potential benefits of early adaptation are enormous”, the report said.
Failing to evolve agriculture practices to climate change might cause development in global agriculture yields to lessen by as much as 30% by 2050, affecting small farmers the most and putting increasing pressure on ways to feed the growing global population.
More efficient water allocation can also be expected to become fundamental to economic growth. The economical growth of India, China and Central Asia could be 7 to 12% lower without such measures, and much of African countries would see their GDP reduce by 6% by 2050.
The report warned that the preparations were “not happening at nearly the pace and scale required”, because climate impacts and risks are not yet adequately factored into decision-making and that those most affected by climate change weren't given a voice.
“Much of the adaptation money doesn't come close to the communities affected which must stand on its head,” said Andrew Steer, president of the World Resources Institute. “We are with a radical overhaul of methods cash is being spent.”
Done right, adaptation will benefit probably the most vulnerable people the most, he added.
The report comes less than a fortnight ahead of the UN climate action summit convened by UN secretary general António Guterres in Ny when political, business and civil society leaders are required to announce plans to ramp up ambition.
The commission pledged to launch annually of action in the 23 September summit, ahead of the first climate adaptation summit within the Netherlands in October 2023. It promised to encourage countries to raise the level of ambition on adaptation in the lead-up towards the 2023 climate talks.
