Funding mitigation and adaptation must go hand-in-hand
Failing to finance measures to adapt to the impact of climate change will disproportionately impact emerging markets
Living in the modern world means living with the effects of climate change. With an increase in extreme weather, we are not only faced with the question of how we limit a rise in global temperature but, also, how we adapt to it to protect communities and economies from increasingly frequent and severe climate events.
How do we put in place the resilient infrastructure necessary to protect our communities? How do we change our approach to agriculture to ensure we can continue to produce the crops we need to live? How do industries innovate to cope with what is becoming the new normal?
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates state that 75% of the global population will experience “life-threatening climatic conditions” under a pessimistic emissions scenario. At 2°C of warming, they warn that extreme heatwaves will occur every 3 to 4 years.
Marisa Drew on climate change adaptation
While mitigation can clearly help change this trajectory, it is starkly apparent that we need to find ways to become more resilient. Failure to do so threatens global growth and, disproportionately effects those in developing markets who are often most vulnerable to these impacts.
At the heart of the solution is capital. The financial sector has a critical role to play and should be asking how we can support the flow of finance towards adaptation measures – such as flood defences, resilient homes and natural disaster early warning systems. How can we promote and fund innovation in this space to support a just transition?
Mitigation and adaptation go hand-in-hand. We need close collaboration across both the public and private sector to create the frameworks, structures and enabling environments needed to help catalyse capital at scale.