The COP30 Presidency, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Governments of Italy and Germany, the NAP Global Network, and the NDC Partnership announced the launch the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) Implementation Alliance, a multistakeholder partnership aimed at accelerating the effective and impactful implementation of National Adaptation Plans (NAP).
Around the world, countries are advancing national adaptation plans, yet the gap between planning and implementation remains one of the biggest challenges in climate action. Support is often fragmented, and finance is not flowing at the scale or pace required, leaving vulnerable communities exposed to escalating climate impacts.
The Alliance, established as a Plan to Accelerate Solutions (PAS) within the COP30 Action Agenda, aims to accelerate collaboration between the organizations supporting the implementation of NAPs and mobilize public and private investment to advance national adaptation priorities. This collaboration will increase awareness and expand the global knowledge exchange on crucial innovations necessary to scale adaptation initiatives, replicate promising solutions, strengthen country platforms and country-owned coordinated delivery mechanisms, and promote greater transparency of existing efforts over the longer term to ensure continuity between consecutive COPs.
The Alliance brings together governments, multilateral institutions, development banks, private investors, philanthropies, think tanks and research institutions committed to helping countries turn adaptation planning into investment strategies and bankable project pipelines.
Countries represented at the launch ranged from Italy and Germany to Vanuatu and Kenya, who welcomed the initiative and underscored the need for stronger coordination across the ecosystem of organizations working with developing countries on NAP implementation.
Technical partners present included UNDP, the NAP Global Network, the NDC Partnership, the Atlantic Council and the Natural Resources Defense Council, while the funding community was represented by the Green Climate Fund, the Adaptation Fund, ClimateWorks Foundation, Itaúsa, the Asian Development Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank.
"UNDP welcomes the launch of the NAP Implementation Alliance and commends the Brazil COP Presidency for this critical initiative", said Marcos Neto, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Director of UNDP's Bureau for Policy and Programme Support. "Scaling up adaptation finance is a development imperative. UNDP stands ready to support this effort with our partners, especially on strengthening the enabling environment for investment readiness, drawing on decades of country engagement and leveraging the new G7 Adaptation Accelerator Hub with the Government of Italy. This will be a cornerstone of our Climate Promise: Forward, bringing the UN System together, at the request of the UN Secretary General, to help countries accelerate NDC and NAP implementation."
Closing remarks were provided by Youssef Nassef, Director of Adaptation at UNFCCC, and Dan Ioschpe, COP30 High-Level Climate Champion, who highlighted that the Alliance offers an opportunity to bring new actors - especially the private sector - to the table, helping make the ecosystem more dynamic, coherent and effective.
Alice Amorim, COP30 Program Director, provided final reflections for the session stating "we are not creating a new institution. We are actually co-creating a process to bring different entities together and find ways to improve collective action to support the implementation of NAPs. We all want Adaptation Plans to be more than documents submitted to the UNFCCC - we want them to serve as instruments that guide investment decisions by public and private financial institutions on the ground."
The Alliance will convene partners ahead of COP31 and continue with the support of the Brazilian Presidency as part of the COP troika, to drive a long-term, systemic approach that enables countries to implement adaptation at scale.
