Reducing vulnerability to climate impacts: Adaptation and Loss and Damage

As the impacts of climate change grow more severe, building resilience and adapting to immediate and predicted climate impacts is an essential piece of international climate action. L&D associated with climate impacts continues to affect people, particularly those most vulnerable to and least responsible for climate change. C2ES is working to achieve international consensus on reducing vulnerability to climate impacts through expert analysis, policy briefs, blogs, and convenings of key stakeholders on adaptation and L&D.

Loss and Damage at COP28 and the Way Forward for 2024

This paper sets out the decisions and conclusions from COP28 on L&D, looks at the L&D agenda for 2024, and considers what continued progress needs to be made.

Matters and modalities of the UAE- Belém work programme

This UNFCCC submission proposes modalities for the UAE-Belém work programme on developing indicators for achieving the targets for the UAE Framework for Global Climate Resilience.

Public Sector: Finance for Loss and Damage: Issues and Options

This paper lays out issues and options for supporting the L&D Fund from public sector sources.

Engaging the Private Sector in Loss and Damage Fund: Issues and Options

This paper highlights how the L&D Fund can increase L&D financing through private-sector engagement.

What is adaptation?

Adaptation is essential to protect people, livelihoods, and ecosystems from the impacts of climate change. Adaptation actions include a broad array of ecological, social, and economic measures that help communities respond to actual and expected climate change impacts. Depending on the unique contexts of affected communities, adaptation could include a range of strategies, such as designing early warning systems for natural disasters or implementing climate-resilient agricultural practices.

Article 7.1 of the Paris Agreement set a global goal to improve adaptation to climate change. The Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) seeks to enhance adaptive capacity, strengthen resilience and reduce vulnerability to climate change. International climate leaders agreed to the “UAE Framework for Global Climate Resilience” in 2023, which will guide the achievement of the GGA.

What is loss and damage?

Some L&D from climate change is inevitable, even if the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius is achieved. L&D encompasses both economic losses, such as damage to infrastructure and livelihoods, and non-economic impacts, including the loss of cultural heritage and community displacement.

Today, there are emerging international climate policies and processes to address this issue. One example is the L&D Fund, established at COP27 (2022), which will provide financial support to vulnerable countries. Another example is the Santiago Network, a resource hub designed to provide technical expertise and support in addressing the impacts of climate change.

C2ES’s Role

C2ES is working toward building international consensus and taking forward issues related to L&D and adaptation under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process. Progress on adaptation and L&D is central to C2ES’s mission.

C2ES COP29 Side Event

Transformational Adaptation: Building Resilience and Accelerating Action Towards SDGs

 

Publications, Submissions, and Technical Papers

Adaptation

Publication
Enhancing Action & Cooperation for Early Warning Systems
Publication
Enhancing Action & Cooperation for Halting & Reversing Deforestation
Publication
Enhancing Action & Cooperation for Sustainable Agriculture & Resilient Food Systems
Paper
Matters & modalities of the UAE-Belém Work Programme
Publication
Options for a Politically-Salient Headline for the Global Goal on Adaptation
Paper
COP28: A layered approach to the Global Goal on Adaptation Framework
Publication
The Global Goal on Adaptation: Issues for COP26
Publication
COP27: Issues and Options for a Global Goal on Adaptation
Publication
Linkages Between the New Collective Quantified Goal & the Global Goal on Adaptation
Publication
Transformational Adaptation for COP29: Issues and Options

Loss and Damage

Publication
Public Sector Finance for Loss and Damage: Issues and Options
Publication
Engaging the Private Sector in the Loss and Damage Fund: Issues and Options (Fact Sheet)
Publication
Loss and Damage at COP28 and the Way Forward for 2024
Paper
Understanding Finance for Loss & Damage Under the UNFCCC (Technical Paper)
Paper
Considerations for Operationalizing the Loss and Damage Fund and Funding Arrangements (Technical Paper)
Publication
A Gap Analysis of Finance Flows for Addressing Loss & Damage
Paper
Potential Coordination Role of the UNFCCC on Loss and Damage
Publication
COP27: Considerations for a Loss & Damage Finance Facility
Publication
The Santiago Network: Decision Options for COP27
Publication
An ICJ Advisory Opinion on Climate Change: Ten Questions and Answers
Publication
Loss and Damage: Issues and Options for COP27
Publication
The Institutional Ecosystem for Loss and Damage
Publication
Loss & Damage: Issues for COP26

Related Content

The focus on loss and damage will only increase
The importance of the Global Goal on Adaptation at COP28
Loss and Damage: Caught between a financial devil and the deep, blue sea
Knowns and unknowns for loss and damage post COP27
Next Steps for Loss & Damage Finance: What lies ahead in 2024?
Early Warning Systems for All by 2027
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