Efforts to assist probably the most vulnerable countries deal with the impacts from the climate crisis remain under-funded compared with emissions cuts, based on a study from donor countries.
Analysis through the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) – the audience representing 36 from the world's most developed countries – found that only 19% of climate finance mobilised in 2023 went to projects that helped communities adjust to global warming.
The majority of the cash visited efforts to reduce emissions with 8% recognized as serving both goals.
Developing countries have long pushed for climate finance to be evenly split between helping them to reduce emissions and also to adapt to existing climate impacts. The UN’s Green Climate Fund aims to provide a 50/50 split.
Saleemul Huq, director of the Bangladesh-based International Centre for Climate Change and Development, said the very fact only 19% of climate finance choose to go to adaptation in 2023, was “a great failure from the global community”.
“Even more disheartening is the fact that under 20% of the meagre funding for adaptation goes to the most vulnerable communities in the most vulnerable countries,” he said.
The imbalance between cutting emissions and using their effects is traditional and entrenched. In 2013, 17% of climate finance went to adaptation programmes, based on the OECD.
The report comes days after the Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA) warned that preparations to adjust to climate change were “not happening at nearly the pace and scale required”, warning that failing to do so often see agriculture yields fall by nearly another by 2050.
Research by the World Bank also implies that without adaptation, the inequality gap will widen and climate change impacts could push more than 100 million people below the poverty line by 2030.
The OECD report analysed progress made towards commitments by developed countries to mobile $100 billion annually in climate finance by 2023 to help developing countries green their economies and deal with climate impacts.
Analysis of monetary data up to 2023, found that the entire climate finance mobilised by rich countries reached $71.2 billion, up from $58.6bn in 2023.
OECD secretary-general Angel Gurría said the $100bn goal was “still attainable”. “But we should urgently step-up our efforts to provide public climate finance and improve its usefulness in mobilising private finance,” he explained.
The $71.2 billion includes bilateral public money, multilateral public finance, expert credits and mobilised private finance and used a methodology that is widely thought to favour donor countries.
Jan Kowalzig, a specialist on climate politics at Oxfam's German branch, told Climate Home News the OECD allowed countries to “grossly over estimate the climate relevance” of programmes the money is allocated to. Something, he explained, was specially the case when it comes to projects labelled as climate adaptation.
Public finance has moved toward adaptation faster than the private sector. The OECD found that public money for adaptation, excluding export credits, increased by 65% between 2013 and 2023 to reach $12.9bn – faster than funding to lessen emissions, which increased by 38% to $36.8bn.
Both climate-related export credits and private finance were found to become almost exclusively provided for emission reduction efforts.
On Tuesday, the GCA made the situation that purchasing get yourself ready for the impacts of climate could repay the initial investment as much as 10 times over, saving trillions of dollars by 2030.
According to the report, using loans to supply climate finance doubled between 2013 and 2023, whereas grant financing increased by 25%.
For Kowalzig this reinforced the issue that adaptation is “totally under-funded”. Loans “can hardly be used for adaptation,” he said, adding that such projects benefit better from the flexibility provided by grants.
Looking ahead to the $100bn goal, Kowalzig expressed cautious optimism. “An increase [of climate finance] in the past does not mean there will be a rise in the future,” he warned.
