Postponed progress
The challenges of the National Adaptation Plan process
By Hana Abdelatty Fri, Feb 28, 2025
As the world grapples with increasingly severe climate disasters, building and maintaining equally resilient systems becomes increasingly challenging. This is where National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) come in.
Fundamentally, NAPs serve as strategic roadmaps. They help countries set specific goals, priorities, and actions to prepare for the adverse effects of a changing climate. Through the NAP process, countries assess key climate vulnerabilities. Then, they identify the remaining gaps needed to mainstream climate adaptation into policies and activities across all sectors–from public health to economic development.
Importantly, NAPs are considered an iterative process. National governments are expected to work on an ongoing basis with stakholders across sectors to identify evolving gaps and opportunities. They are to “follow a country-driven, gender-sensitive, participatory, and fully transparent approach.” By design, the process is focused on remaining responsive to evolving climate challenges.
The origin of National Adaptation Plans
The 2010 Cancun Adaptation Framework outlined the purpose and structure of National Adaptation Plans. This was later reinforced by the 2016 Paris Agreement.
Before the development of the NAP process, climate adaptation and resilience were often treated as distinct environmental concerns rather than integral to broader national planning efforts.
The plans address this gap by enabling national governments to integrate adaptation into their development planning, policies, and budgeting.
Assessing the progress on the national plans
The first assessment was scheduled to take place at COP21 in Paris. But at that moment, not enough countries had submitted their National Adaptation Plans to the UNFCCC, making a comprehensive assessment unfeasible. In fact, only two countries—Burkina Faso and Cameroon—had published their plans.
In Glasgow at COP26, the participating parties reaffirmed their commitment to regular assessments. That year’s final agreement noted that the assessments would be initiated by the Subsidiary Body for Implementation in June 2024. From there, countries were expected to report on the progress towards their goals and align on recommendations at the twenty-ninth Conference of the Parties (COP29).
To date, sixty-four plans have been officially submitted. Notably, over 90 percent of these plans come from developing countries. This underscores the urgent priority towards advancing and funding adaptation resilience among the most vulnerable nations. Now, the UNFCCC and its member countries have a critical opportunity to standardize monitoring and evaluation guidelines to assess progress in adaptation planning across diverse country contexts.
A decade after COP21 and the Paris Agreement, the moment had finally arrived for the assessment in Baku, Azerbaijan. With a significant rise in the number of submitted plans, experts anticipated a breakthrough in the assessment of progress at COP29.
However, this breakthrough did not come.
The COP29 breakdown
In Baku, some progress was made during negotiations with the development of a draft text by negotiators. However, the approval of new guidelines on NAP assessments was yet again postponed. Countries disagreed on key frameworks related to the assessment process. Of note, there were discussions on how to substantively measure NAP progress, integrate considerations of gender equity in adaptation strategies, and define the private sector’s role in financing adaptation.
Now, countries are expected to reassess the text at the June 2025 intersessional meetings in Bonn. But key challenges still remain.
Beyond the national disagreements, experts also indicated that the COP Presidency did not actively engage in NAP discussions. In fact, to the dissatisfaction of many parties, the COP Presidency elected to end formal discussions on NAP assessments after the first week of negotiations. The Presidency called it “a technical matter” for the Subsidiary Body for Implementation.
Nevertheless, country negotiators moved forward with informal consultations in the second week in an effort to reach an agreement. Looking ahead, the COP30 Presidency must prioritize a more active role in the process to support negotiators.
As decisions continue to be deferred, developing countries face challenges to identify and address gaps in their national strategies. This limits their ability to strengthen protections against increasingly debilitating climate risks. In addition, experts anticipate that the advancements in NAP assessments will unlock new financing mechanisms for countries to move from adaptation planning to implementation. As the approval of NAP guidelines continues to stall, the prospect of new financing remains uncertain—funding that is crucial for developing countries to effectively implement and scale their national adaptation strategies.
What’s next on the road to COP30?
Since the establishment of the National Adaptation Plan process over two decades ago, the Conference of Parties has been slow to move to the next stage. While many countries have mapped out adaptation priorities through their NAPs, they are yet to receive feedback. Thus, it is difficult to understand best practices and recognize the available resources to translate these goals into actions.
As a result, the gap between planning and implementation remains a significant challenge. Without a clear framework for assessing progress and providing targeted support, many countries—particularly those in the Global South—struggle to translate their adaptation strategies into tangible resilience-building actions. The formal approval of these plans will be one step forward to bridging this gap.
Looking ahead to the intersessional meetings and to COP30, efforts must be made by the COP30 Presidency and country negotiators to meaningfully address political deadlock and advance the NAP assessments. While sixty-four plans have been submitted, it falls far short of comparable benchmarks. For instance, nearly all 195 countries under the Paris Agreement have put forward Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions through climate mitigation.
To instill the same level of confidence towards climate adaptation, all eyes will be on Bonn and Belém. This is the moment to enshrine the importance of transformational adaptation through meaningful progress to advance the NAP process.
This article is part of our path to COP30 campaign. Our team and expert partners are sharing articles and research to deepen your understanding of the significance of this year’s UN climate conference. You can explore evidence-based analysis and policy insights that can drive change before the world gathers in Belém, Brazil.
