Human-induced climate change, including more frequent and intense extreme events, has had widespread adverse effects and caused greater losses and damage to nature and people than would have been caused by natural climate variability1. Climate change adaptation is intended to reduce or avoid harm from such shocks while exploiting opportunities that can benefit affected communities. In Africa, even if adaptation funding had covered adaptation costs in the years before 2020, it would still have been necessary to increase annual funding for climate adaptation by 7 per cent each year after 2020 to meet adaptation needs, regardless of whether the average global temperature is kept below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. According to recent estimates, annual adaptation costs are expected to reach $35 billion by 2050 and $200 billion by 20702. It is urgent to scale up adaptation financing both for direct investment and to o