NEW YORK: A UN report declared that the developing countries may need equal to $500 billion per year by 2050 to adapt to the destruction of climate change.
The figure was about 20 times today’s public spending on climate adaptation, according to the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) that warned of a “significant funding gap after 2020.”
And the number could be further inflated if countries fail to meet the UN target of limiting global warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-Industrial Revolution levels.
“The impacts of climate change are already beginning to be factored into the budgets of national and local authorities,” UNEP executive director Achim Steiner said in a statement.
The escalating cost implications on communities, cities, business, taxpayers and national budgets merit closer attention as they translate into real economic consequences,” he added.
In 2012-13, the amount of global public finance committed to adaptation was about $23-26 billion, of which 90 percent went to developing countries. Any Paris 2015 agreement and intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs) by countries will need to be more adaptation-focussed than currently, which is tipping in the direction of mitigation efforts.
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