Don’t count on the private sector to protect developing nations from the ravages of climate change.
That’s the takeaway from a report released Wednesday by a coalition of climate resilience groups. The findings weren’t all negative — in fact, the authors said the private sector had an important role to play in preparing developing nations for the consequences of a hotter planet.
But they estimated the private sector could — based on current policies — pay for only 15 percent of the climate adaptation needs of developing nations over the next decade. The rest of the money would have to come from public coffers, either from the developing nations themselves, or the international community.
“There is potential for the private sector to help bridge the financing and funding gap in certain sectors,” says the report by the Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance, a collaboration between research, nonprofit and humanitarian organizations.
