COP28: Draft lists adaptation targets for countries to be achieved by 2030

However, until now, there has been no progress on it as the countries have not yet agreed on the framework and the finance provisions.

A first draft text on the ‘Global Goal on Adaptation’, which is expected to be negotiated at COP28, was released on Sunday morning. The draft has the long-term adaptation efforts that countries are supposed to make towards reducing the vulnerability of countries and communities to extreme climate impacts. However, the text is extremely weak on climate finance provisions that will help developing countries meet these adaptation targets, experts say.

COP28 UN Climate Summit is being held in UAE (AP Photo)

The Global Goal on Adaptation is an important issue for India as it is highly vulnerable to climate impacts. India submitted its third national communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on Saturday. In India, public finance covers most of the adaptation-based activities through flagship programmes, schemes etc.

Around 40 ministries have adaptation-relevant budgetary provisions. The total adaptation-relevant expenditure was 5.6% of the GDP in 2021-2022, growing from a share of 3.7% in 2015-16, the communication said. India also informed in its national communication that the large gap in fulfilling adaptation needs cannot be met only through government resources.

The text lists at least seven adaptation targets that countries need to take by 2030. These include attaining climate-resilient food and agricultural production and supply; strengthening resilience against climate-related health impacts, promoting climate-resilient health services, and reducing climate-related morbidity; increasing the resilience of infrastructure and human settlements to climate change impacts to ensuring basic and continuous essential services for all and substantially reducing poverty and livelihood vulnerability in areas with high climate risk.

This strand of work on adaptation is one of the main deliverables at COP28, but until now, there has been no progress on it as the countries have not yet agreed on the framework and the finance provisions to implement these measures in developing countries.

“The framework for the global goal on adaptation should guide long-term transformational and incremental adaptation efforts towards reducing vulnerability and enhancing adaptive capacity and resilience, as well as the collective well-being of all people, the protection of livelihoods and economies, and the preservation and regeneration of nature, for current and future generations, taking into account the best available science and the worldviews and values of Indigenous Peoples, to support the achievement of the global goal on adaptation,” the draft text states.

The text states the framework will be implemented in line with equity and national circumstances. “Affirms that efforts about the targets referred to in paragraphs 10–11 (adaptation measures) shall be made in a manner that is country-driven, voluntary and in accordance with national circumstances and that they shall not constitute a basis for comparison between Parties”.

The draft calls on countries to accelerate swift action at ‘scale and at all levels’– from local to global on seven targets by 2030. These include: Significantly reducing climate-induced water scarcity and enhancing climate resilience to water-related hazards towards a climate-resilient water supply, climate-resilient sanitation and universal access to safe and affordable potable water; Attaining climate-resilient food and agricultural production and supply and distribution of food, as well as increasing sustainable and regenerative production and equitable access to adequate food and nutrition; Strengthening resilience against climate-related health impacts, promoting climate-resilient health services, and reducing climate-related morbidity and mortality, particularly in the most vulnerable communities; Reducing climate impacts on ecosystems and accelerating the use of ecosystem-based adaptation and nature-based solutions; Increasing the resilience of infrastructure and human settlements to climate change impacts to ensure basic and continuous essential services for all, halving climate-related impacts on infrastructure and human settlements by 2030 and eliminating all such impacts by 2040; Substantially reducing poverty and livelihood vulnerability in areas with high climate risk and ensuring that communities in such areas are covered by at least one adaptive social protection measure; And protecting cultural heritage from the impacts of climate-related risks by developing adaptive strategies.

The text also lays out a process for reviewing the strategy for the implementation of these goals. By 2025, all the countries have to put in place up-to-date assessments of climate hazards, climate change impacts and exposure to risks and vulnerabilities and have used these assessments to inform their formulation of national adaptation plans and nationally determined contributions, and by 2027, all have to establish multi-hazard early warning systems and climate information services for risk reduction.

The text further notes with concern that the adaptation finance gap is widening and reiterates the call urging developed countries to at least double their collective provision of climate finance for adaptation to developing countries from 2019 levels by 2025.

The text on equity and Common But Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR) is not yet agreed upon, with a ‘no text’ option inserted by developed countries. Overall targets are weak, lacking metrics to measure progress on adaptation related to water scarcity, water-related hazards, health, food, agriculture, and ecosystems. The text proposes a two-year work program to develop these metrics and review the framework, potentially delaying progress, said Harjeet Singh, head of global political strategy at Climate Action Network International.