COP30 must take concrete steps to help vulnerable people adapt to worsening climate impacts and avoid a “dystopian scenario” in which the rich can afford to protect themselves while the poor are left exposed, the Brazilian president of next month’s UN climate summit said on Thursday.

André Aranha Corrêa do Lago, a veteran diplomat, wrote in an open letter that he had listened to the voices of people “from all walks of life” in recent months and “a single message echoes everywhere: a call for urgency and tangible outcomes on adaptation at COP30“.

The COP30 president has issued a series of letters this year, detailing how he wants countries to approach the climate negotiations that Brazil will host in its Amazon region. Thursday’s letter, his eighth so far, focuses on the importance of putting climate adaptation – which has long lacked political attention and funding – on a par with the need to cut planet-heating emissions as global warming increases.

“As the age of warnings gives way to the age of consequences, humanity confronts a profound truth: climate adaptation is no longer a choice that follows mitigation; it is the first half of our survival,” he wrote.

Rich-poor divide on climate resilience

For many years, some advocates of stronger efforts to reduce emissions painted adaptation as a sign of giving up on that mission – but, with the COP30 presidency acknowledging on Thursday that warming is likely to overshoot a globally agreed limit of 1.5C, it emphasised that the two areas of climate action “are complementary to each other”.

Corrêa do Lago warned that “we are entering a perilous era in which the wealthy – in both developed and developing nations – insulate themselves behind climate-resilient walls while the poor are left exposed.”

“Such a future must be rejected outright. It is unethical, immoral, and ultimately self-destructive, for it corrodes the very cooperation that has made human evolution possible,” he added.

Momentum builds for strong adaptation outcome at COP30

In his letter, he said he had heard people speaking of flooded homes, failed harvests, local economies collapsing after storms, and schools and hospitals destroyed.

He noted how climate-related disasters already cost Africa between 2% and 5% of GDP each year, and in small island developing states, one hurricane can wipe out years of progress.

“Behind each story is the same reality: climate impacts are eroding development gains, widening inequality, and pushing millions back into poverty,” he said.

Adaptation finance in short supply

Corrêa do Lago and COP30 CEO Ana Toni told journalists that far more effort has to be made – both by governments and businesses – to boost funding for adaptation, which accounts for less than a third of climate finance and covers only about a 10th of the needs of developing countries.

The call comes at a tough time, however, with the US slashing aid under President Donald Trump and other key donor countries paring back development spending amid wars and fiscal strains.

As a result, adaptation finance from wealthy governments is expected to decline and may only reach $26 billion in 2025, according to projections by NGOs Oxfam and the CARE Climate Justice Center.

That would be far short of the estimated $40 billion needed to meet a promise developed countries made four years ago at COP26 in Glasgow to double their adaptation finance from 2019 levels by this year.

The group of Least-Developed Countries (LDCs), meanwhile, has proposed for COP30 to set a new goal of around $100 billion a year by 2030. It is unclear whether donor countries will agree to such a target but adaptation is expected to feature strongly in a new roadmap for raising $1.3 trillion a year in climate finance from all sources by 2035.

Corrêa do Lago and Toni said on Thursday that it is in the interests of the private sector to invest in making transport and other infrastructure more resilient to extreme weather and rising seas so as to protect their supply chains.

But they also insisted that government funding will be essential to help the poorest stay safe and maintain their homes and incomes as climate threats rise.

COP30 is due to agree a set of around 100 indicators to measure progress on the Global Goal on Adaptation that was enshrined in the Paris climate pact in 2015 but has yet to be operationalised as countries have been slow to decide how to put it into practice.

Half of developing nations have adaptation plans

Separately, developing countries have been working on National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), which outline their needs in climate-hit areas like agriculture, water and health – and projects to tackle them.

The UN climate change body published a progress report this week showing that about half – nearly 70 – have been completed, including 23 from the LDCs and 14 small island developing states. It said governments should expect the activities they propose in their NAPs – which are costed – to be funded.

UN climate chief Simon Stiell described the NAPs produced so far as “a big collective commitment, despite very limited capacity and resources”, noting that adaptation is increasingly being integrated into countries’ development plans.

He said governments are putting in place coordination mechanisms, financing strategies and monitoring systems for adaptation across all sectors of their economies and involving more social groups, from youth to women and Indigenous peoples.

“The systems are increasingly ready, but the finance must flow right now” – and be of better quality, meaning “long-term, predictable and equitable”, he emphasised. Countries have now set the right direction on adaptation, he said, adding “we have a serious need for speed”.

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Climate adaptation can’t be just for the rich, COP30 president says