No One Is Investing in Adaptation, the ‘Poor Cousin’ of the Climate Debate
“It's seen as a sunk cost and not as an investment. And that’s wrong,” says Patrick Verkooijen, CEO of the Global Center on Adaptation, on this week’s Zero.
A pedestrian walks his dog along sea defence wall on Canvey Island, UK, on Thursday, Jan 30, 2020.
Photographer: Mary Turner/BloombergCOP28 Daily Reports: Sign up for the Green Daily newsletter for comprehensive coverage of the climate summit right in your inbox.
In 2018, then United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon and other world leaders created the Global Commission on Adaptation to highlight a problem few were adequately addressing. Nearly 4 billion people live in countries where climate change-related disasters are becoming more severe and more frequent. Adapting to them — even as nations work to lower emissions and slow warming — will cost around $2 trillion by 2030. Who will pay, and how?