At COP30 in Brazil, climate adaptation takes center stage

Bill Gates scandalized much of the climate advocacy world late last month when he called for a “strategic pivot” in climate action . The Microsoft cofounder and billionaire philanthropist argued for shifting attention away from global temperature targets and toward the work of preparing for the consequences of global warming. Or, in United Nations parlance, a shift from climate mitigation to adaptation.

While Gates’ call stirred controversy among those who want to see faster global decarbonization , there is already a broad consensus that adaptation — building the infrastructure that will help especially the poorest nations weather supercharged fires, floods, and droughts — is dramatically underfunded. The 2015 Paris Agreement promotes both mitigation and adaptation, but the latter ha