Developing countries may need 310-365 billion USD a year for adaptation by 2035, against just 26 billion USD in international public adaptation finance in 2023. “The conversation on climate adaptation is moving from ‘how do we plan?’ to ‘how do we deliver and pay for it?’” says Marta Ellena, lead author of  a new CMCC Policy Brief named “Accelerating Adaptation Delivery: Why the Adaptation Accelerator Hub and the NAP Implementation Alliance matter now”, produced in support of the Italian Ministry of Environment and Energy Security (MASE). The Brief sets out what is needed to turn existing adaptation priorities into concrete, finance-ready programmes and measurable results in the build-up to COP31 in Türkiye. 

By 2025, 143 of 154 developing countries had a National Adaptation Plan process in place, yet implementation has not kept pace, with many countries still lacking the institutional capacity, project preparation and finance needed to turn their priorities from strategies, to bankable projects, and into results on the ground.

“Developing countries know what they need to do to adapt to climate change. The hard part is turning that knowledge into projects that will actually be financed,” says Ellena. The Brief argues that the central challenge is no longer simply writing plans, but bridging the “missing middle” between identifying a national priority and developing a project or programme that can secure finance and be implemented.

“Money, however, is only one part of the problem”, continues Ellena. Challenges to coordinate across national and sub-national governance structures can result in weak project proposals; weak proposals struggle to attract finance; and without finance, countries cannot improve the institutions, data and monitoring systems needed to develop stronger projects.

“A country-driven process that strengthens an integrated delivery chain that links national priorities, technical preparation, and investment pipelines is expected to mobilise financing, implementation and then deliver measurable results,” notes Anna Pirani, co-author of the Brief.

Two recent initiatives could help connect these stages. The Adaptation Accelerator Hub, launched under Italy’s 2024 G7 Presidency, is country-facing with a coordination role among G7 partners, for governments to translate their own adaptation priorities into coordinated, investment-ready programmes. The NAP Implementation Alliance, launched under the COP30 Action Agenda by Brazil, works at system level to improve coordination among governments, technical partners, climate funds, development banks and investors.

“The Policy Brief shows that the Adaptation Accelerator Hub and the NAP Implementation Alliance work best when read together, as complementary pieces of the same delivery chain, rather than as separate, competing platforms,” says Ellena.

The Brief stresses that “bankability” cannot be the only measure of progress. Institutional capacity, climate data, social protection and support for particularly vulnerable communities may not generate commercial returns, but remain essential to effective adaptation and will continue to require grants, concessional finance and public investment.

Looking toward COP31, where implementation – including on adaptation – will be a central theme, the Brief points to several areas worth watching: how far a country-level pilot advances, how clearly the two initiatives’ roles are communicated, and how much the project portfolio linked to finance has grown.

CMCC contributes as a science-policy partner to MASE, translating climate knowledge into evidence-based strategy for international climate processes. This Brief benefited from the valuable contributions of the UNDP team supporting the G7 Adaptation Accelerator Hub.

Read the full Policy Brief here.