New platform aims to speed climate resilience investments as Adaptation Fund draws fresh pledges

A new global platform to accelerate climate adaptation efforts was introduced at COP30 on Wednesday with the formation of the Alliance for the Implementation of National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), backed by the COP30 Presidency, the governments of Germany and Italy, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Developed under the COP30 Action Agenda, the Alliance is intended to promote dialogue among actors involved in putting NAPs into practice and to help channel public and private finance into adaptation projects. National governments, multilateral development banks, investment funds, philanthropic organisations, civil society and private sector institutions have signed on, with their support showcased at a high-level event in the Blue Zone.

Alice Amorim, Director of Programmes in the COP30 Presidency, said the meeting brought together organisations that analyse NAPs “through various methodologies” and would lead to a joint effort on adaptation. A recent UNDP report cited at the event estimates that current adaptation finance needs are between eight and fourteen times higher than the resources governments are presently allocating, and highlights the need to build capacity and transfer technology.

Youssef Nassef, Director of Adaptation at the UNFCCC, stressed that adaptation must be seen as investable and warned that failure to finance it could cost human lives. COP30 High-Level Climate Champion Dan Ioschpe said the Alliance should help make Belém a turning point in securing the attention adaptation requires.
Brazil, which has yet to submit its NAP to the UNFCCC, has completed its plan domestically and identified 560 highly vulnerable municipalities, according to National Secretary for Climate Change Aloísio Melo.

So far, 71 countries have lodged NAPs with the UNFCCC, including 11 during 2025. These plans set out how countries will manage climate risks over the medium and long term, particularly for the 1.2 billion people exposed to storms, floods, heatwaves and worsening droughts, with Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States among the most vulnerable.

The Adaptation Fund, created in 2001 to support developing countries in coping with climate impacts, has received close to USD 135 million in fresh pledges during Brazil’s COP30 Presidency, with contributions announced by Belgium (Walloon Region), Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, the Republic of Korea, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.