Amsterdam, Netherlands, 4 November 2026 – Greenpeace has called on countries to step up adaptation finance at the UN climate talks COP31 as the United Nations Environment Programme exposed the widening gap in critical finance for developing countries.
The UNEP's Adaptation Gap Report 2026 showed international public adaptation finance flattened at USD28.2 - 31.7 billion in 2024, representing just a USD1 billion year-on-year increase. In contrast, developing countries face annual adaptation needs of USD305 billion, which is expected to rise to USD420 billion by 2035 with inflation. It means that even tripling flows by 2035 will only cover 20 to 29% of what vulnerable nations require. [1]
Koaile Monaheng, Climate Finance Expert, Greenpeace International said: "The math of climate injustice is here in plain sight, with adaptation needs woefully underfunded. This leaves frontline communities, who have contributed the least to global emissions, facing escalating climate extremes with a fraction of the support. This is morally indefensible. Adaptation is not a luxury, but critical for human survival, dignity and justice.
"Every delay in adaptation funding turns climate impacts into catastrophic losses and damages. At COP31, governments must confront this reality and the widening adaptation finance deficit by immediately scaling up grant-based funding to meet the goal to at least triple adaptation finance by 2035."
At COP31, Greenpeace is calling for developed country governments to announce ambitious multi-year post-2025 climate finance commitments that reflect their country's fair share in delivering the USD300 billion New Collective Quantified Goal agreed at COP29 in Baku. [2][3]
Under the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) agreed at COP30, developed nations must clarify how they will triple adaptation finance to reach at least USD120 billion annually by 2035, alongside recognising the need for a robust, needs-based adaptation finance commitment. [4] This has to be delivered through grant-based and non-debt-creating mechanisms rather than loans that trap vulnerable countries in spiralling debt.
Monaheng added: "To unlock these funds, governments must make polluters pay. Taxing the massive profits of oil and gas corporations through progressive environmental taxation is one of the clearest ways to generate new public finance. This money must be channeled directly into public adaptation and multilateral funds, including the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage, where initial funding requests of USD2.8 billion vastly outstripped the available USD342 million envelope."
