Climate change, once seen as a threat to our future, is now understood as the crisis of our time. An estimated US$260 billion was lost to extreme weather globally in 2022, with 106.9 million people affected by drought alone.

In Nigeria, 1.5m people were displaced by floods exacerbated by climate change. In India, temperatures exceeded 50°C; some states lost a third of their crop yield. In places like coastal Bangladesh and the Horn of Africa, whole territories are losing their ability to sustain livelihoods like fishing, farming and herding.

In response to the urgency of this challenge, philanthropy has increased funding for mitigation – action to curb greenhouse gas emissions – every year since 2015. Mitigation is necessary for a climate-safe future, but it does not address the very real challenges of people facing this crisis right now.

Injustice is at the heart of climate change. Those contributing least to this crisis bear the brunt of the impacts, with 69% of deaths worldwide caused by climate-related disasters over the last 50 years occurring in least developed countries. Further, those already marginalised within countries – including women, youth, Indigenous Peoples and people with disabilities – are usually most negatively affected.

Philanthropy can step in to address injustice and ensure climate action solves people’s most pressing climate problems. Growing funding for approaches that build resilience to climate change now is critical to avoid massive losses.

There is some good news: people can build resilience using many straightforward adaptation measures, such as replanting deforested slopes to prevent landslides or painting buildings white to reflect heat.

Yet communities suffering most often have the least access to the resources they need to build resilience. Even if the money pledged for adaptation at COP26 reached the countries that need it most, it would only equate to $11 per person per year.

Read the full article about climate justice and adaptation by Tom Mitchell and Heather McGray at IIED.