UN Warns Developing Countries Face Mounting Climate Risks as Adaptation Funding Falls Short

The United Nations has warned that developing countries remain dangerously underfunded in their efforts to adapt to climate change, with available international financing falling dramatically short of what is needed to protect vulnerable populations as global temperatures continue towards and beyond the 1.5°C threshold.

In its latest Adaptation Gap Report, released on November 4, 2026, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said that even if international public adaptation financing triples, as governments have committed to achieving by 2035, it would cover only between 20 and 29 per cent of developing countries’ projected needs.

The report estimates that developing countries will require approximately US$305 billion annually by 2035 to address their climate adaptation requirements. Yet international public adaptation finance reached only between US$28.2 billion and US$31.7 billion in 2024, an increase of approximately US$1 billion over the previous year.