Wealthy countries are failing to deliver the adaptation finance that developing nations urgently need to confront the escalating climate crisis, and global aid cuts could reduce this even further, according to a new report by CARE Denmark.
Analysis of climate finance plans from 27 developed countries, including the G7 nations, finds that only three countries – Denmark, New Zealand, and the Netherlands – explicitly aim to allocate at least 50% of their climate funding to adaptation, as agreed in the Paris Agreement. The report, Hollow Commitments 2025, reveals that most other wealthy countries are falling dangerously short of this commitment.
Despite repeated promises and pledges made in the Glasgow Climate Pact in 2021 to double adaptation finance by 2025, CARE estimates that bilateral adaptation support will reach only $12 billion – just 30% of the $40 billion target – and could drop to $10 billion by 2026 due to projected aid cuts. This forces vulnerable countries, already burdened by heavy debt, to seek costly loans from multilateral development banks, driving them deeper into indebtedness.
John Nordbo, senior climate advisor at CARE Denmark, and one of the report’s authors, said:
“It is outright irresponsible. Adaptation isn’t a policy choice – it’s a lifeline for the 40% of the world already hit hard by climate change. Extreme weather events are escalating, but wealthy countries are breaking their promises, leaving vulnerable communities to face floods, droughts, and rising seas alone, as they contribute the least to the crisis. Without concrete plans and funding, lives and livelihoods hang in the balance.”
The UN estimates developing countries need $300 billion annually for adaptation, which includes support for countries and communities to prevent or minimise the impacts of the climate crisis, yet the current pace of delivery is nowhere near sufficient. Worse still, most countries provide no clear targets, timelines, or implementation plans for adaptation, making finance unpredictable and unreliable for frontline communities.
CARE’s analysis shows that while some countries acknowledge the importance of supporting gender equality in climate finance, substantive information on how this will be put into practice is routinely lacking.
The UK’s latest climate finance update reaffirms its £11.6 billion commitment for 2021–2026, including an aim to continue supporting balanced mitigation and adaptation objectives, with a target to triple adaptation finance to £1.5 billion by 2025.
However, ongoing cuts to the UK’s aid budget, confirmed in the Comprehensive Spending Review1, and the failure to provide climate finance as new and additional to ODA, raise serious questions about how this pledge will be met without impacting other UK aid priorities. While the submission outlines broad priorities and programmes, such as support for vulnerable communities and mobilising private finance, it lacks concrete detail on how funds will be allocated or how much will reach Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States.
Francesca Rhodes, senior policy advisor on climate and gender at CARE International UK, said:
“The Labour Government has repeatedly stated the climate crisis is a top priority, but the spending review shows they’ve chosen not to back that with funding. Without real investment, their rhetoric rings hollow.
"It is critical that the UK provides climate finance as new and additional to the already ransacked aid budget, to support marginalised communities – particularly women and girls – who are the least responsible for the crisis. Fair taxes on the wealthiest and largest polluters could generate billions of pounds a year for climate action at home and overseas. This isn’t about tight budgets, it’s about political will.”
Other key findings from the report:
- Climate finance set to fall: The U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement means a loss in around $11 billion in climate finance a year. The other 26 developed countries are expected to provide around $45 billion in bilateral support for mitigation and adaptation in 2025. This amount could fall by about 10 percent from 2025 to 2026 due to cuts in development assistance, if climate finance is cut proportional to aid.
- Only eight countries have set climate finance targets beyond 2025 and just one—Luxembourg – commits to make contributions additional to official development aid.
- Not a single wealthy nation has set a target for loss and damage finance.
- While developed countries focus on scaling up private climate finance in the global climate negotiations, their own climate finance plans lack details on how to achieve this. Only three countries have some kind of quantitative target for their mobilisation efforts.
Without urgent action, Hollow Commitments 2025 shows that the new global climate finance goals for 2035 are likely to become just another set of empty promises.
Obed Koringo, climate advisor at CARE Denmark, said:
"With COP30 on the horizon, CARE is calling for a credible ‘Baku to Belém Roadmap to $1.3 trillion’ that sets out how wealthy nations will meet their obligations – not just for adaptation, but also for mitigation, and loss and damage. The Global South needs more than promises – it needs predictable, transparent, and equitable funding pathways. Climate justice demands it."
Note to editors
For all media enquiries please contact: Carey Ellis – ellis@careinternational.org
