EU pledges €100 million to the Adaptation Fund

At Tuesday's high-level plenary session at COP26, the European Commission announced  that it would pledge of €100 million in finance for the Adaptation Fund. 

The Adaptation Fund is a fund to which governments and private donors donate finance to fund projects and programmes that will help vulnerable communities in developing countries adapt to climate change. It was created following a decision taken by COP 7 in 2001 and launched in 2007. Since 2010 it has committed US$ 868 million to projects and programmes.

International public climate finance plays an important role in helping developing countries to implement the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. Adaptation finance is one of the central topics of discussion at COP26 in Glasgow, and it is a high priority for the European Commission.  EU Executive-Vice-President Frans Timmermans said: “We have to scale up international climate finance and provide a predictable framework for its delivery. The Adaptation Fund can play a key role and that is why I am pleased to announce for the first time that the European Commission is committing €100 million to the Fund, to support developing countries.”

This additional €100 million contribution from the EU budget is by far the biggest pledge for the Adaptation Fund made by donors at COP26. It comes on top of significant contributions already announced by Member States. 

However, according to the UN developing countries’ adaptation needs are closer to $70 billion a year, and it is likely that this figure will reach USD 140-300 billion in 2030 and USD 280-500 billion in 2050.