Addressing the Imagined Trade-off Between Mitigation and Adaptation Spending

• In Event: Time Horizons and Geography in Environmental Policy

Abstract

Worldwide only about four percent of the estimated $500 billion-plus in public and private climate finance in 2017 was destined for adaptation (Climate Policy Initiative 2018, 7). However, many institutions including the World Bank are positioning themselves to spend more, substantially more, on sustainable development. As a consequence of efforts to mainstream climate change considerations into projects, the Bank assessed that by 2018, nearly 30 percent of the Bank’s financial flows directly addressed climate change issues (including as components of other projects). Nonetheless, it remains challenging to assess what portions of development project budgets can be associated with climate change adaptation measures. This paper explores the longstanding resistance to adaptation spending, the challenges of measuring adaptation, and new means of addressing adaptation spending. The authors use machine learning algorithms to establish a time series regarding World Bank spending over time, with the intention of extrapolating a pattern of spending on adaptation (versus mitigation) over time.

Author

• Ifeoluwa M Olawole, American University