Did the Global COVID-19 Recovery Address Climate Adaptation and Resilience? An Analysis of Sixty-Seven Countries

The analysis reveals that only 24% of the 67 sampled countries demonstrated a climate risk responsive recovery. A significant paradox was identified: a country's income level was a stronger determinant of whether it used COVID-19 funds for adaptation than its actual climate vulnerability. High-income countries were more likely to integrate physical climate risks into their recovery plans, while the most vulnerable countries were the least likely to do so, with only Kenya and Vanuatu among the 20 most vulnerable countries approving explicit adaptation actions. Most responsive measures focused on water resources management, disaster prevention, infrastructure, and nature-based solutions, primarily targeting drought and flooding.

• Only 16 of the 67 analyzed countries (24%) exhibited a climate risk responsive recovery, defined as articulating a high-level goal to build climate resilience, approving concrete adaptation actions for specific physical climate risks, or both.
• There is a disconnect between climate vulnerability and recovery actions; the most vulnerable countries were significantly less likely to integrate climate resilience into their pandemic spending than the least vulnerable.
• National income was a primary driver of adaptation integration: 42% of high-income countries approved resilience-building measures, whereas no low-income countries and only 21% of lower-middle-income countries did so.
• Countries that established high-level policy commitments or goals for climate adaptation were more likely to implement concrete actions against physical climate risks during their recoveries.
• The majority of climate-responsive recovery measures focused on four main areas: water resources management, disaster prevention, infrastructure, and nature-based solutions, with a primary focus on managing floods and droughts.
• High- and upper-middle-income countries predominantly used direct investment for adaptation, while lower-middle-income countries relied more on diverse instruments, with only one country (Cambodia) using monetary policy and one (Mongolia) using fiscal measures.
• While 91% of the sampled countries considered distributional equity in their general recovery measures (targeting women, youth, elderly, or informal workers), these measures were typically broad-based and not specifically tied to building the climate resilience of those groups.

APA

Kratzer, B., Krishnan, N., Norström, A., Brandon, C., Thorpe, S., & Matthews, N. (2023). Did the Global COVID-19 Recovery Address Climate Adaptation and Resilience? An Analysis of Sixty-Seven Countries. Global Resilience Partnership. https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/covid-19-recovery-climate-adaptation-resilience-report.pdf

Chicago

Kratzer, Bradley, Nisha Krishnan, Albert Norström, Carter Brandon, Sean Thorpe, and Nathanial Matthews. Did the Global COVID-19 Recovery Address Climate Adaptation and Resilience? An Analysis of Sixty-Seven Countries. Global Resilience Partnership, 2023. https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/covid-19-recovery-climate-adaptation-resilience-report.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{kratzer2023did, author = {Kratzer, Bradley and Krishnan, Nisha and Norström, Albert and Brandon, Carter and Thorpe, Sean and Matthews, Nathanial}, title = {{Did the Global COVID-19 Recovery Address Climate Adaptation and Resilience? An Analysis of Sixty-Seven Countries}}, institution = {Global Resilience Partnership}, year = {2023}, url = {https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/covid-19-recovery-climate-adaptation-resilience-report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }