Rich Countries Are Not Paying Enough to Help Poor Nations Handle Climate Change

Rich countries are not giving nearly enough money to help poorer nations deal with the effects of climate change, a United Nations report said on Wednesday. The report found that wealthy nations gave $28.2 billion in 2024 to help developing countries cope with extreme weather. But experts say at least $305 billion is needed every year. The gap between what is given and what is needed keeps growing as storms, floods, droughts, and heatwaves get worse around the world.

The UN report is called the 2026 Adaptation Gap Report. It looks at how well countries are preparing — or adapting — to the changes that come with a warming planet. Adapting means doing things like building stronger flood barriers, planting trees to stop soil from washing away, and making sure communities have clean water even during long dry spells. The report found that the money sent by rich countries went up by $1 billion compared to the year before, but that increase is still nowhere near what is actually needed.

Leaders from many countries will meet in Turkey from November 9 to 20 for a major round of climate talks. At last year's climate meeting, held in Baku, countries promised to send $300 billion a year in climate money to developing nations. That promise was close to the UN's estimate of $305 billion per year. But negotiators at the Turkey talks will have to explain why that goal has not been met and what countries plan to do about it.

Scientists warn that global temperatures could rise more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above historic levels within just a few years. That level of warming is considered a danger point. Once temperatures pass it, weather events like hurricanes, wildfires, and floods are expected to become much more destructive. To slow the damage, countries need to restore forests and wetlands and build stronger roads, bridges, and buildings that can handle extreme conditions.

At last year's climate meeting in Brazil, countries agreed to triple the amount of money going toward adaptation for developing nations. The goal is to reach $120 billion a year by 2035. Even so, the UN report says that would still leave a gap of more than two-thirds of what is actually needed. By 2035, developing countries are expected to need as much as $420 billion a year just to cope with the changing climate.

Inger Andersen, the head of the UN Environment Programme, painted a serious picture of the problem. She said the world is not ready to adapt to current climatic conditions, never mind what going past 1.5 degrees Celsius will bring. Her words underline how urgent the situation is, even before temperatures reach that danger point. Global leaders are under pressure to do much more, and quickly.

There is some good news in the report. Money flowing through development banks — large financial institutions that fund projects in poorer countries — rose sharply. Funding from these banks and from developing countries helping each other more than doubled, going from $3.8 billion in 2019 to $9.6 billion in 2024. While this growth is encouraging, experts say it is still just a small piece of the much larger amount needed to protect billions of people from the effects of climate change.