ACS2: COP30 High-Level Adaptation Dialogue on Advancing Investable National Adaptation Plans

2024 was the warmest year on record and the first year in which the average global temperature exceeded 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels. As Ambassador Corrêa do Lago pointed out in his first letter as President-Designate, “COP30 will therefore be the first to undeniably take place at the epicenter of the climate crisis.” This means that humanity has the imperative of adapting to an already irreversible scenario of climate change and that mitigation efforts will no longer suffice. With that in mind, COP30 seeks to elevate adaptation to a higher political and implementation priority, recognizing that adaptive measures also hold mitigation co-benefits and result in economic savings and yields.  

National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) are a critical instrument not only for adaptation planning and help direct adaptation finance. NAPs should include quantification of climate risks, costing estimates and financing strategies that can facilitate the development of investable nationally prioritized project pipelines towards which domestic and international funds are to be deployed, including from private sector actors. For this to occur, finance ministries, central banks and other financial stakeholders must be involved in the NAP process, which represents a shift in paradigm. Furthermore, the model for the development of NAP documents must change, with institutions such as the Least Developed Countries Expert Group (LEG), the Adaptation Committee (AC) and the NAP Global Network, assisting countries in the provision of capacity building support, including risk analytics and the elaboration of financial plans that effectively help implement adaptation action. Lastly, multilateral and national development banks, alongside other development finance institutions (DFIs), must be capacitated to use NAPs in their evaluation of bankable adaptation projects. 

Considering that the adaptation financing gap continues to be an alarming reality for developing countries, COP30 ambitions to help strengthen the economic case for investing in adaptation. A recent World Resource Institute (WRI) report shows that each USD 1 invested in adaptation generated over USD 10 in benefits over a decade, via avoided losses, economic gains as well as social and environmental benefits. The proposed roundtable seeks to explore how NAPs can help channel funds to nationally prioritized adaptation projects, making the economic benefits of these investments clearer to multiple stakeholders. With this event, the COP30 Presidency aims to listen and contribute to elevate African voices in the global debate about adaptation planning and finance, aligning international financial resources to local needs through the promotion of investable NAPs. 

This high-level dialogue will focus on: 

• Tracking progress and highlighting opportunities to accelerate the development of investable NAPs 

• Strategies to mainstream the use of NAPs in resource allocation decision-making by DFIs

• Scaling up financial instruments that can fund nationally prioritized adaptation projects without increasing fiscal constraints