COP28: 'Global Goal on Adaptation' draft shifts focus, emphasises urgent support for developing countries post-Paris agreement

Dubai: The new draft of the 'Global Goal on Adaptation' released after the last day of COP28 removed a key part requesting developed countries to provide specific support to developing countries and instead, it emphasises the urgent need for continuous and enhanced international support to developing countries, following the Paris Agreement.

This change reflects a compromise, shifting away from explicitly naming developed countries as providers of support.

New COP28 'Global Goal on Adaptation' text removed key paragraph 33 which "requests developed country parties to provide developing country parties... with long-term, scaled-up, predictable, new and additional finance, technology and capacity-building".

This is replaced with "reiterates that continuous and enhanced international support provided and mobilised to developing country parties, under Articles 9-11 of the Paris Agreement, is urgently required".

Experts say that this is a big step down from "requests" to "reiterates" that support is urgently required.

India is emphasising the need for a clear distinction between adaptation and mitigation strategies in the current targets, which are currently directive and focused primarily on mitigation.

The new draft reiterated the call, urging developed country parties to at least double their collective provision of climate finance for adaptation to developing country parties from 2019 levels by 2025, in the context of achieving a balance between mitigation and adaptation in the provision of scaled-up financial resources.

Noting that the adaptation finance gap is widening, the new draft sought to close the adaptation finance gap and encouraged countries to consider the outcomes of the global stocktake and the framework for the global goal on adaptation in their deliberations on the new collective quantified goal on climate finance in 2024.