Report Launch: Financing Adaptation in India

The UN global stocktake finalized at COP 28 notes the grim reality that current climate action is nowhere close to achieving its current ambition of limiting global warming to 1.5C. As mitigation actions currently fall short of limiting global warming to 1.5C, climate-related risks to lives and livelihoods, food and water security and socio-economic development will continue to magnify. The IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report 2022 underscores the urgency and criticality of prioritizing climate adaptation and resilience.

With India being one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change, given geospatial and socio-economic conditions, adverse effects of climate change have already started undermining India’s significant progress on SDG 1 of reducing the poverty rate. It is expected that by 2040, over 50 million people will be pushed below the poverty line because of the increasing frequency and severity of climate-related events, including floods, cyclones, droughts, and heat waves.

Adaptation and resilience needs to be a primary focus of India’s climate policy and programs. Assessing adaptation investment needs (at the national as well as subnational levels) and the funding gaps that states in India face, is the first step to enable informed adaptation policy and financing decisions. In light of this background, we have developed the report – Financing Adaptation in India.

This report is by the Center for Sustainable Finance (CSF) at Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) assesses adaptation investment needs and the funding gaps at the level of states. The report is of critical importance and comes at a time when adaptation finance is urgently needed, and builds on the momentum provided by India’s G20 presidency, which provided an increased focus on sustainable finance. While there is a lot of information on how climate change is impacting India’s economy, there is a need to better understand the adaptation investment needs and the funding gaps. The report also explores how adaptation investment can be enabled, and finance can be mobilized from a combination of public, private, and philanthropic financing.

For attending the event, please reach out to admin.csf@cpiglobal.org.