Climate adaptation could cost $258 billion annually by 2030 – Science & Health

The United Nations indicated today that adapting to climate change will cost developing countries $300 billion (€258 billion) annually by 2030.

He warned that if mitigation targets are not met, the figure will rise to $500 billion (€430.6 billion) by 2050. Current funding is only a quarter of the $300 billion projected for 2030, a report from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) warned. , released ahead of the climate change conference starting Friday in Glasgow, Scotland.

“Fulfilling the $100 billion (€86.1 billion) yearly pledges to the Green Climate Fund is a must in Glasgow,” said UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebecca Greenspan, adding that more was also needed.

“Focused efforts at the multilateral level are necessary to secure the financing that developing countries need to adapt to the exacerbating effects of climate change,” he added.

UNCTAD called for reform of the financial system, which would include increasing state aid for development.

The UN report asserts that “had the G7 countries reached the target of 0.7% of development aid by 2020, an additional $155 billion would have been available”.

The same document recommends debt restructuring and debt forgiveness for countries most vulnerable to climate change, more lending by multilateral development banks, and the expansion of green bond markets, which are currently severely restricted by various policies and regulators.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), on the other hand, warned that pressures to liberalize the market for products and services related to environmental protection would mainly benefit exporters from developed countries, reducing the financial capabilities of developing economies.

In particular, the report predicts that developing economies could lose $15 billion annually (nearly €13 billion) in tariff revenue if such liberalization were achieved.

At the same time, the UN agency stressed that green technologies should be classified as public goods and therefore should be accessible to all economies.