- Developing countries need $310–365 billion annually by 2035 for adaptation, nearly 12 times current international public finance flows.
- The target to double global adaptation finance to around $40 billion by 2025 is likely to be missed, increasing vulnerability to floods, heat waves and other climate impacts.
- Out of 197 countries, 172 now have national adaptation plans, but 36 are outdated, risking maladaptation.
- Health and social sectors remain underfunded, with growing risks from disasters and disease outbreaks.
As India battles rising heat waves, erratic monsoons and coastal flooding, a new United Nations’ report warns that the world is “running on empty”, referring to the lack of money for resilience, when it comes to protecting vulnerable communities and economies from climate impacts. The UNEP Adaptation Gap Report 2025 finds that developing countries, including India, will need at least $310 billion every year by 2035 to adapt to climate change, nearly 12 times more than the current international public finance available. With adaptation funding failing to keep pace, the report says the gap is widening just as climate risks intensify, threatening lives, livelihoods and public health.
Adaptation means helping societies adjust to climate impacts through measures such as better water management, coastal protection and heat-resilient cities. The adaptation gap is the shortfall between what countries are doing and what is needed to safeguard people and ecosystems.
As per the current trends, the Glasgow Climate Pact goal to double public adaptation finance to around $40 billion by 2025 will not be met, the report says. UNEP warns that this growing finance gap comes as the world faces more deadly heat waves, floods, and the spread of infectious diseases.
“Climate impacts are accelerating. Yet adaptation finance is not keeping pace, leaving the world’s most vulnerable exposed to rising seas, deadly storms, and searing heat,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres in his message on the report. “Adaptation is not a cost – it is a lifeline. Closing the adaptation gap is how we protect lives, deliver climate justice, and build a safer, more sustainable world.”
Importantly, health systems remain chronically underfunded. “Developing countries like India are experiencing increasing heat stress, water scarcity, wet bulb temperatures and air pollution amid climate change,” said Dr. Harshal Salve, an additional professor of Community Medicine at AIIMS Delhi. “These threats are adding to the health challenges in our regions. Real adaptation finance for health systems remains abysmally inadequate, and in a post-pandemic world, this is not just an economic issue but a serious public health emergency in the making.”
Adaptation finance gap widens as progress stalls
The UNEP report estimates that developing countries will require $310-365 billion per year by 2035 to meet their adaptation needs (2023 values). Current international flows total about $26 billion, leaving a 12 to 14-fold gap. Even the proposed New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) of $300 billion per year by 2035 will not cover global needs. Adjusted for inflation, adaptation costs could rise to $440–520 billion annually.
The report notes that adaptation finance needs have surged, even as actual support from wealthy nations remains stagnant. Vulnerable countries are being forced to choose between climate resilience and essential social spending.
“Every person on this planet is living with the impacts of climate change — wildfires, heat waves, desertification, floods, rising costs and more,” said Inger Andersen, the Executive Director of UNEP in the report’s foreword. “As action to cut greenhouse gas emissions continues to lag, these impacts will only get worse, harming more people and causing significant economic damage. We need a global push to increase adaptation finance — from both public and private sources — without adding to the debt burdens of vulnerable nations. Even amid tight budgets and competing priorities, the reality is simple: if we do not invest in adaptation now, we will face escalating costs every year.”
“This report confirms a staggering betrayal,” said Harjeet Singh, the founding director of Satat Sampada Climate Foundation. “The adaptation finance gap is a death sentence for communities on the frontline. They have done their homework — 172 countries now have adaptation plans — but rich nations have offered only lip service. This monumental gap is the direct cause of lost lives, destroyed homes, and shattered livelihoods. It is the very definition of climate injustice.”
Outdated strategies
UNEP finds that 172 countries now have at least one national adaptation policy, strategy, or plan, including India. However, 36 of these are outdated or unimplemented, leaving countries vulnerable to maladaptation.
India’s national and state-level plans align with global trends but remain constrained by limited fiscal capacity. The report notes that while reporting on adaptation actions is increasing, information on their outcomes or effectiveness is still limited. Countries collectively reported over 1,600 adaptation actions across biodiversity, agriculture, water, and infrastructure sectors, yet few track or measure their results.
The report highlights that developing economies face “soft limits to adaptation,” where financial, technological and institutional barriers prevent communities from coping fully with rising climate risks.
In 2024, new adaptation projects supported by the Green Climate Fund, Global Environment Facility, and Adaptation Fund grew to $920 million, but UNEP warns that this may represent a one-time increase rather than a sustained trend.
India’s need for adaptation finance
India needs an adaptation finance averaging 2.4% of GDP, or about $62 per person. Only 5% of adaptation needs worldwide are met through domestic sources, leaving India and similar economies heavily dependent on international finance.
The report cites the Reserve Bank of India’s 2022 assessment on Climate Risk and Sustainable Finance as an example of early integration of climate risks in national policy. Yet, UNEP warns that 89% of non-concessional loans for adaptation went to middle-income countries like India, raising debt risks and threatening fiscal stability.
“We are dangerously underinvesting in climate resilience,” said Dr. Jemilah Mahmood, the Executive Director of Sunway Centre for Planetary Health, Malaysia. “The finance gap is not just a number; it’s a reflection of the growing risks to people’s health, safety, and dignity. From heat waves that strain healthcare systems to floods that contaminate water supplies, the impacts are intensifying, and the most vulnerable are paying the highest price.”
The role of private sector and the path to Belém
UNEP estimates that private investment in national adaptation priorities could realistically increase from $5 billion today to $50 billion per year with supportive policies and blended finance mechanisms. But it warns that private flows cannot replace concessional public finance, especially in sectors such as health, food security, and disaster preparedness.
Delivering the $1.3 trillion annual climate finance goal by 2035, part of the Baku-to-Belém Roadmap, is described as critical for ensuring that developing countries can protect communities from climate shocks.
India’s adaptation priorities, including drought resilience, coastal protection, water management and urban heat mitigation, are consistent with the global focus areas identified by UNEP. These priorities are outlined in India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change (MoEFCC, 2008) and reaffirmed in the country’s Third National Communication to the UNFCCC (2023). The report stresses that locally led and ecosystem-based adaptation can yield high returns, but scaling up requires new and concessional funding.
The report’s findings are expected to shape negotiations at the upcoming climate conference COP30 in Belém, where governments will discuss how to close the adaptation finance gap and deliver on the Baku to Belém Roadmap. UNEP urges countries to expand concessional funding, strengthen accountability mechanisms and prioritise vulnerable communities in the new global finance framework.
Right before COP30, the UNEP report offers a stark reminder that adaptation is falling far behind need. Without urgent financial and political action, countries like India risk facing intensifying climate impacts with shrinking means to respond. “Bridging this gap is not about numbers alone,” said Harjeet Singh. “It is about justice, solidarity, and the political will to ensure that no country is left to face a crisis it did not create.”
Read more: Research into climate adaptation in India is woefully inadequate, says review
Banner image: Water being pumped out of a flooded road in Bengaluru, Karnataka. Representative image by Divya Kilikar/Mongabay.
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