The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has issued a stark warning in its Adaptation Gap Report 2025, revealing that developing countries will need over $310 billion annually by 2035 to tackle worsening climate impacts a figure more than 12 times the current funding levels.
Titled “Running on Empty”, the report highlights that while more countries have adaptation plans, actual financing and effectiveness remain seriously lacking. Without urgent scale-up in adaptation funding, vulnerable populations risk exposure to intensifying disasters like wildfires, floods, and heatwaves.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres calls adaptation “a lifeline” for nations already facing the worst effects of climate change, stressing that closing the funding gap is key to saving lives and ensuring climate justice.
UNEP’s Inger Andersen warns that the rising global costs of inaction will be devastating unless new financial mechanisms—especially those without adding debt—and private sector support are mobilized.
Despite some progress, with nearly $920 million granted in 2024 by major climate funds, the path ahead is uncertain due to emerging financial constraints. The report urges immediate collective action to mobilize resources, prevent ineffective adaptation (“maladaptation”), and embed climate resilience into financial systems worldwide.
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