Urgency with inclusion in global climate adaptation finance: why measurement matters

With escalating climate impacts, adapting to climate change is an increasingly urgent global priority. The UNFCCC Paris Agreement committed signatory nations to a step change in adaptation finance. This is likely to be accelerated by the 2021 global climate negotiations in Glasgow which are anticipated to usher in a huge increase in international financing for climate change adaptation, with tens of billions of additional dollars committed annually. This significant rise in climate finance is a huge opportunity to prioritise longer-term adaptation in the face of pressing socio-economic challenges. Yet, adaptation investments have not always reduced vulnerability: in some cases they have even led to increased risk, especially for marginalised groups. It is vital this is addressed before the next wave of finance is distributed. Alongside the urgency to act and to scale up adaptation, there is a need to work harder at including marginalised groups and building accountability, both to those affected by climate change and to the international community providing finance. These goals do not always align well, with a risk that accountability and inclusion will be trumped by the demands for rapid and large-scale action. This Fellowship will open a new research agenda on the tensions between urgency and scale, and inclusion and accountability in climate change adaptation, and will generate research, networks and capabilities to increase the effectiveness and equity of new funds. Metrics offer an original lens to analyse these tensions. Metrics are not just neutral measurement tools: they can influence policy and practice, as seen for example in how the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have consolidated a global understanding of extreme poverty. Within adaptation, metrics define what constitutes success in processes and outcomes, who should benefit, and over what timeframe. For example, success might be defined as putting in place a new adaptation policy or increasing awareness of climate impacts within a community. These concepts of success are often defined through international processes, without engagement from national policymakers or marginalised groups. There has now been over a decade of experience of applying adaptation metrics, offering an as-yet unexplored body of empirical evidence; with the coming large increase in adaptation finance now is a crucial juncture to leverage this data, and open metrics up to focused scrutiny. The Fellowship will apply theory rarely used in adaptation research from Science and Technology Studies (STS) to analyse the development and application of adaptation metrics, and their influence on decision-making. This will build understanding of how tensions around accountability are being navigated, and how they might be addressed through new approaches. The Fellowship will also advance STS theory through analysing qualities of adaptation that offer new perspectives, for example, the interactions between international and national finance and policy, the under-explored empirical contexts in the Global South, and the multiple forms of knowledge embedded within adaptation decision-making. This will develop STS theory on how knowledge production influences decision-making across international and national finance and policy and will also be of interest to scholars of public finance and accountability in other fields where funds are rapidly scaled up. The Fellowship will not only advance scientific knowledge but also influence how climate finance is framed, implemented and evaluated to support more effective adaptation. Research will be coproduced through iterative engagement with policymakers and practitioners and will develop and test new approaches to accountability. The Fellowship will convene an international community of practice of academics and practitioners to develop research and policy advances beyond the Fellowship and through which it will offer global leadership on this topic.