1. Accelerating Adaptation
Background on the Global Commission

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“Without urgent adaptation action, we
risk undermining food, energy and water
security for decades to come.
The costs of adapting are less than
the cost of doing business as usual.
And the benefits many times larger.”
- Ban Ki-moon, 8th Secretary General
of the UN

3. About the Commission
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The Global Commission on Adaptation seeks to accelerate adaptation
action and support.
The Commission will elevate the political visibility of climate adaptation
and encourage bold solutions such as smarter investments, new
technologies and better planning to become more resilient to climate-
related threats.

4. Convening countries
• Argentina
• Bangladesh
• Canada
• China
• Costa Rica
• Denmark
• Ethiopia
• Germany
• Grenada
• India
• Indonesia
• Marshall Islands
• Mexico
• Netherlands
• Senegal
• South Africa
• United Kingdom
• Uzbekistan
• Vietnam

5. Commissioners
• Ban Ki-moon, 8th Secretary-General of the United
Nations
• Bill Gates, Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation
• Kristalina Georgieva, CEO, World Bank
• Achim Steiner, Administrator UNDP
• Petteri Talaas, Secretary-General, WMO
• Shri C.K. Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Environment,
Forests and Climate Change, India
• Hilda Heine, President, Marshall Islands
• Keith Mitchell, Prime Minister, Grenada
• Akinwumi Adesina, President, African Development Bank
• Elhadj As Sy, Secretary General, IFRC
• Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights
• Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary, UNFCCC
• Christiana Figueres, Former Executive Secretary, UNFCCC
• Li Ganjie, Minister of Ecology and Environment, China
• Anne Hidalgo, Mayor, Paris
• Emma Howard Boyd, Chair of the Environment Agency, UK
• Naoko Ishii, CEO and Chairperson, Global Environment Facility

6. Commissioners, continued
• Peter Damgaard Jensen, CEO, PKA Ltd
• Agnes Kalibata, President, AGRA
• Loren Legarda, Chair, Senate Finance Committee, Philippines
• Strive Masiyiwa, Founder and Chairman, Econet Wireless
• José Antonio Meade, Former Finance Minister, Mexico
• Gerd Müller, Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development,
Germany
• Muhammad Musa, Executive Director, BRAC
• Cora van Nieuwenhuizen, Minister of Infrastructure and Water
Management, Netherlands
• Sheela Patel, Chair, Slum/Shack Dwellers International
• Feike Sijbesma, CEO, Royal DSM
• Francis Suarez, Mayor, Miami
• Andrew Steer, President and CEO, World Resources Institute
• Shemara Wikramanayake, CEO Designate, Macquarie Group
Ltd.
• Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director, Oxfam International
• Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate
Change, Canada

7. Phases of the Commission
2INCEPTION AND LAUNCH ANALYSIS, ENGAGEMENT
AND COALITION BUILDING
YEAR OF ACTION
Oct 2018 – Oct 2019
• Engage adaptation and
development communities,
convene action tracks, present
Commission at high-level
events and deliver the flagship
report.
Nov 2019 – Nov 2020
• Year of Action: use
recommendations from the
report and action tracks to
catalyze political leadership,
enhance adaptation
commitments and mobilize
finance.
0 1
May – Oct 2018
• Hire staff, develop fundraising,
outreach and communications
plans, invite Commissioners and
Conveners to join, prepare
discussion papers and more.

8. Nov 2020
COP26 &
Enhanced
Ambition
Oct 2020
Adaptation
Action Summit
March 2020
Countries begin
submitting
enhanced NDCs
Jan 2020
World Economic
Forum
Sept 2019
Launch of Flagship
Report & select
Action Tracks
Jan 2019
Commission Davos
event
March 2019
One Planet Summit
March 2019
Full drafts of
background papers
Summer 2019
Commission meeting to
adopt report
recommendations
May 2019
Commissioner
meeting to share
report draft
May 2019
Final drafts of
background papers
2019-2020 Key Events
April 2019
CBA
conference
Sept 2019
UNSG
Summit

9. Flagship Report
The report will present a compelling vision of an agenda for scaled-up
and transformative adaptation, showing how investment in adaptation
is a cornerstone of better development. The report will set out:
• WHY adapting to climate risks and accelerated action is essential.
• WHAT new actions need to be taken and what must be done
differently.
• HOW we can start working today to make the world a safer, better
place.

10. Seven Action Tracks
Click to edit Master subtitle style• Finance
• Food Security
• Infrastructure
• Cities
• Locally-Led Action
• Nature-Based Solutions
• Preventing Disasters

11. Finance
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• The main goal: To increase financial flows towards climate-resilient
development by mobilizing additional resources and promoting
systemic change in fiscal and financial systems.
• Towards this end, the following priorities for action are proposed:
1. Accelerate climate smart fiscal policies. In partnership with the Coalition of
Finance Ministers for Climate Action, the GCA will announce the creation of
a new USD 75-100 million multi-donor trust fund to mainstream climate
adaptation into national planning.
2. Improve climate risk pricing in the private sector.
3. Improve data, metrics, and standards for integrating climate risks into
private and public decision-making.

12. Food Security
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• The main goal: By 2030, 300 million small-scale agricultural producers and
rural dwellers in low- and middle-income countries enhance their resilience
to climate shocks and extreme events, increase household incomes and
food security, and reverse ecological decline – in line with several SDGs.
• Towards this end, the following priorities for action are proposed:
1. Upscale investments in climate-resilient agricultural R&D
2. Support the reform of policies, such as land use and agricultural subsidies, that
incentivize adaptation solutions,
3. Improve access to financial services, insurance and social protection
4. Expand the coverage and use of climate-informed digital farmer advisory services
5. Improve access to a package of integrated adaptation technologies and agro-
ecological practices

13. Infrastructure
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• The main goal: By 2025, all significant new and retrofit infrastructure
investments are resilient to climate change.
• Towards this end, the following priorities for action are proposed:
1. Update national technical codes and standards to account for physical climate
risks, adapting international best practice to local conditions.
2. All significant infrastructure projects will be screened to ensure that they are
resilient to climate change-related impacts
3. X countries [plus the EU] commit to “stress testing” their infrastructure networks
against the impacts of climate change, and developing appropriate response
measures
4. Increased uptake of risk finance and insurance mechanisms for infrastructure to
ensure rapid recovery after extreme events and facilitate private investment, as
part of financial protection strategies

14. Cities
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This action track will focus on four main areas:
Resilient Cities for All
• Enhance climate action in vulnerable regions with marginalized and vulnerable populations such as slum
dwellers, informal workers, youth, ethnic minorities and women.
All the Resilient Cities
• Advance climate action in small and medium-sized cities, with a focus on Africa and Asia.
Regional and National Cooperation – Focus on Water Security
• Water supply and watershed management is a key area for regional and national level cooperation between
cities and surrounding areas which has the potential to be mutually beneficial.
Finance
• Many organizations are already involved in trying to improve access to climate finance for cities because
cities lack creditworthiness and can not access many international funds directly.

15. Locally-led Action
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• The main goals:
1. By 2030, increase the volume of devolved funding available by XXX to local actors to
identify, prioritize and implement and monitor climate adaptation solutions. That
devolved will be flexible, long term in nature, risk-tolerant inclusive, transparent and
accountable both to communities and investors.
2. By 2030, XXX countries have put in place inclusive polices and structures that support
devolve decision making on adaptation investment to local governments, community-
based organizations, civil society organizations and federations and incorporate local
perspectives into national level development planning, adaptation planning and NDC
implementation.

16. Nature-Based Solutions
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• The main goal: 400 million women, children and men benefit from reduced
climate impacts as a result of nature-based solutions and increased
ecological resilience by 2025.
• Towards this end, the following priorities for action are proposed:
1. Five countries execute high-impact, large-scale nature-based solutions to build
climate resilience for at least 25% of the population.
2. 50 cities implement new nature-based solutions as part of city-wide plans for
building adaptation and resilience in order to benefit 50% of the population.
3. XX industry leaders adopt practices for initiating and expanding the use of nature-
based solutions in supply chains, business operations and beyond.
4. National and city governments, non-governmental organizations and local
communities have access to finance for catalyzing nature-based solutions for
adaptation through the establishment of quick-start finance and project
preparation facilities

17. Preventing Disasters
• The main goal: Scale up in our ability to act ahead of extreme weather events in order to substantially
reduce mortality, human suffering and the economic impact of disasters. Investment in early warning
systems will be systematically coupled to investment in our ability to take early action, making the “last mile”
the first mile.
• Towards this end, the following priorities for action are proposed:
1. Match the amount invested in early warning system infrastructure and institutions with investment in early action in ‘last
mile’ communities, building on the existing CREWS initiative.
2. Scale up financing mechanisms connected to effective early action plans.
3. Ensure people are prepared to take action through investment in awareness raising efforts on changing climate risks and
early action measures.
4. Strengthen and harmonize national climate and disaster regulatory frameworks.
5. Focus on a hidden killer: Scale up heatwave early warning systems and action so that millions more people are covered
by new or improved heatwave early warning systems, connected to longer-term risk management systems. (Note this
goal requires specific action within each of the above areas of work).
6. Establish social protection systems help people anticipate, absorb and adapt to the impacts of climate extremes.

18. Year of Action
The Commission will facilitate a Year of Action, starting in late 2019 and
going through 2020, to advance the recommendations from the
flagship report and the action tracks.
The Climate Adaptation Action Summit on 22 October 2020 in the
Netherlands will take stock of progress so far and challenges ahead.
The Global Commission will sunset, while the Global Center will
continue beyond 2020.

19. Immediate next steps
• Global Commission meeting in Dhaka, 9-10 July
• Worldwide launch of the Flagship Report, 10 September
(“Follow the Sun”)
• Action Track announcements, UNSG Summit 23 September
• COP25 in Chile, November

20. For more information, visit
gca.org/global-commission-on-adaptation