Escalating climate risks amidst widening global inequalities call for urgency of adaptation

India has experienced 400 extreme weather events in the past three decades causing  80,000 fatalities and 180 billion USD of economic losses, revealed the Climate Risk Index 2025.  Ranked 6th in this global index India is among the countries most affected by recurring disasters like floods, heatwaves and cyclones, the frequency and intensity of which have been exacerbated by climate change.

Global Climate Inequality and the Urgency of Adaptation

The Climate Risk Index 2025 highlights the deepening global disparity in climate vulnerability. Over the past 30 years, five of the ten worst-affected countries were lower-middle-income nations, primarily in the Global South. Despite contributing minimally to climate change, these regions—spanning Asia, Africa, and Latin America—face its worst consequences including displacement and economic setbacks. Disaster mortality rates in these countries are 15 times higher as compared to the developed world. Low levels of human development leave these cash strapped nations at higher risks of disasters, making adaptation an urgent imperative. Investing in resilient infrastructure, early warning systems, sustainable health systems and food security is critical to reducing their human and financial losses from disasters.

Climate Action Falling Short in Mitigating Future Risks

Richer nations of the global north have been historically hogging the carbon budget with the highest contributions to climate change. But their mitigation efforts remain inadequate as do their obligations to assist vulnerable countries through financial and technological support.

The Widening Adaptation Finance Gap

The existing fund flows from the richer nations fall miserably short in meeting the adaptation needs of their less developed counterparts. Costs of adaptation in developing countries are, on average, approximately 4 times higher than the available funds. Developing nations require USD 3.3 trillion by 2035 for climate adaptation but are projected to receive only USD 840 billion. The Adaptation Fund, designed to provide grant-based financial aid to developing nations, remains severely underfunded and was able to mobilize only “around one-sixth” of its targeted commitments from the COP29. It received a meagre $61 million dollars against its annual target of $300 million.

Tracked green finance for India in 2020 was US$44 billion per annum, barely one-fourth of its need. Of this, finance for the adaptation sector stood at barely US$5 billion. A 2024 study by the non-profit research group, Climate Policy Initiative (CPI), showed that just six of India’s 28 states will require a combined annual adaptation investment of US$5.5 billion between 2021 and 2030.

Strengthening Resilience Through Adaptation Plans

Despite fund crunches, India has made significant strides in improving the country’s overall resilience. It has strengthened its early warning systems and disaster response, while adopting progressive climate and disaster action plans and incorporating climate risks in state budgets. 

Several developing nations are also formulating their National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) to address their built climate resilience. By implementing these strategies, countries can cope with worsening climate threats, protect lives and livelihoods and sustain development progress. However, vulnerable nations of the global south are still hard pressed to meet their anticipated investment needs. Hence, increased financial commitment from developed nations is an absolute necessity to pull vulnerable countries out of their long standing suffering from climate risks.