UN predicts 'climate carnage' unless nations urgently boost funds

Climate change impacts battering vulnerable countries threaten to outstrip efforts to adapt to global warming, the UN warned Thursday, with international funding help up to ten times below what is needed.  

Many emerging economies least to blame for the fossil-fuel gases that stoke global warming, are also among the most exposed to climate impacts, such as worsening drought, floods and cyclones.

Funding to help them adapt to accelerating impacts and curb emissions is one of the thorniest issues at UN climate negotiations, which will begin their latest round in Egypt on Sunday. 

Wealthy nations have failed to provide all of a pledged $100 billion a year to developing nations, reaching just $83 billion in 2020.

Only a part of that -- $29 billion -- was for adaptation, which the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) warned in a new report was five to 10 times below the estimated needs.  

"Climate change is landing blow after blow upon humanity, as we saw throughout 2022: most viscerally in the floods that put much of Pakistan under water," said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP. 

"The world must urgently reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit the impacts of climate...