Climate change adaptation could cost $500 billion by 2050: UN
Geneva, Oct 28 (EFE).- Climate change adaptation will cost developing countries $300 billion annually by 2030, while a failure to meet mitigation targets will push the figure to $500 billion by 2050, the United Nations warned Thursday.
The current funding represents only a quarter of the $300 billion planned for 2030, warns a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) issued ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference that kicks off in Glasgow on Friday.
“Fulfilling the $100bn a year pledge for the Green Climate Fund is a must at Glasgow,” UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan said.
“But aligning ambition and action will require a concerted reform effort at the multilateral level to ensure adequate funding for developing countries to adapt to the worsening impacts of ever-increasing climate change,” she added.
UNCTAD called for a reform of the financial system for climate change adaptation.
It includes delivery on the Official Development Assistance (ODA) commitments, government aid to promote the economy and welfare of developing countries.
“If the G7 countries had met the 0.7 percent ODA target in 2020, an additional $155 billion would have been available to meet development goals,” the UN report says.
It also recommends debt relief and restructuring for the most vulnerable countries to climate change, more grants and concessional loans by multilateral development banks, and a greater scope for green bond markets that are currently very limited due to regulatory policies.
On the other hand, UNCTAD warns that the push to liberalize the market for environmental products and services will mainly benefit exporters from developed countries, thereby reducing the fiscal space in developing economies.
“Developing and least developed countries will lose $15 billion per annum in tariff revenue if this approach is pursued,” according to the report.
The UN agency calls stressed the classification of green technologies as public goods and their affordable access for all economies. EFE
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