Developed Countries Must Increase Finance for Adaptation
Paris, France. Political leaders, particularly in developed countries, must ramp up financial support to poorer countries for gender-equitable adaptation to prepare for climate change impacts and to deal with unavoidable loss and damage, urges CARE International on the occasion of the One Planet Summit. The high-level event takes place on 12 December in Paris, France, two years after the adoption of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, and gathers Heads of States and Governments from over 50 countries.
Climate change is already severely impacting hundreds of millions of people, and this is expected to increase in impact and breadth. In Guatemala and Central America, recent extreme weather fueled by climate change worsened food and nutrition insecurity of many people. Good practice adaptation must target the poor and promote gender equality. It is essential that developed countries scale up adaptation finance to accelerate climate action and improve the living conditions of the most vulnerable.
Ada Zambrano, Country Director, CARE in Guatemala
Adaptation continues to be neglected in climate finance. As new statistics by the OECD show, there is virtually no progress in increasing the share of adaptation finance which still is less than a third of the reported financial support to poorer countries. This is despite the agreed objective to reach a balance with mitigation finance by 2020. Significant doubts remain over developed countries’ accounting practice, implying even lower sums of support for adaptation. Now is the time to step up finance to tackle the growing impacts from climate change.
Sven Harmeling, Global Policy Lead, CARE’s Climate Change and Resilience Platform
In 2018, governments will face a moment of truth. G20 and G7 Summits, COP24 and the Talanoa Dialogue must be seized by countries as opportunities to significantly and rapidly scale up their commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to support vulnerable populations. The One Planet Summit should set an ambitious tone for the year ahead by signaling an irreversible shift of public and private financial flows away from fossil fuels to support the production of renewable energy and the adaptation of vulnerable populations, both critical for ambitious climate action. CARE expects that progressive developing and developed countries stand together and resist any backtracking from the Paris Agreement by unwilling countries.”
Fanny Petitbon, Advocacy Manager, CARE France