UN urges transformative approach to climate adaptation
By Wang Junwei in London | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2021-11-02 20:41
The world needs a transformative approach to climate adaptation, with large-scale public investment programs and green industrial policies to drive growth and job creation, according to a new report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
Adaptation costs for developing countries have doubled in the last decade as a result of inaction, the report said. And the loss will only expand further as temperatures increase, reaching $300 billion in 2030 and $500 billion in 2050.
"You have to look at the adaptation challenge as a development challenge. It's not just about protecting existing assets and infrastructure," Richard Kozul-Wright, UNCTAD's director of the division on globalization and development strategies, told China Daily.
Countries that can adapt to the temperature rise are those with more diversified economies, so it is necessary to link the challenge of adaptation to diversification. Since many developing countries still need to industrialize, they have to do it in a greener way with new sources of energy, according to Kozul-Wright.
"(The diversification) requires public investment. Private investment has an important role, but it can't be relied upon to make the structural changes that we want to see. We need public investment to take a much stronger role," said Kozul-Wright.
The report also proposes a "retrofitted" developmental state, empowered to implement green industrial policies and tuned to local economic circumstances, as the best way forward.
"We need to see more use of industrial policy, targeted support for specific industries, cleaner energy sources, more resilient agriculture, and all those require specific support. So industrial policies are very important," said Kozul-Wright.
"And finally, we want to see a bigger role for public development banks. We think development banks have a critical role in mobilizing the resources in developing countries," he said. "In this respect, China has been very successful in using development banks as part of its successful transition to a middle-income developing country. So, we want to see more use of development banks in other parts of the world, to make the investments to allow countries both to adapt and diversify at the same time."
