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Climate Action 15: 2024's top global innovators powering green solutions

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The US Treasury Department is making unused COVID funds available to support housing projects.</li><li>The State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds has around $40 billion in unspent money, Reuters said.</li></ul>Billions of unspent pandemic dollars have been made available for housing projects as the federal government steps up efforts to tackle the shortage of affordable homes.The US Treasury <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy2156" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced Tuesday</a> that unused money from State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds can be deployed for housing projects, freeing up about $40 billion, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-treasury-ease-rules-covid-aid-boost-affordable-housing-supply-2024-03-05/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reuters</a> calculated.These funds are eligible for developments that will house families earning 120% the area's median income, a jump from the prior 65% threshold. Otherwise, they can be spent on federal housing programs, or federally-supported initiatives to house essential workers.Meanwhile, leftover funds from the Emergency Rental Assistance program can be rerouted towards low-income housing initiatives, including land acquisition, pre-development, construction and rehabilitation. The program primarily served to prevent COVID-era evictions. According to Reuters, around $6.9 billion was unused by June 30, 2023."While the ERA program has already made more than 12.3 million household payments to keep renting families in their homes, these changes will build out the pipeline to bring additional rental units onto the market," the Treasury announcement said. The department also indefinitely extended backstop financing for a risk-sharing program between the Department of Housing and Urban Development and local financing agencies. The program will "dramatically" lower capital costs for low-risk developments, the Treasury said.Since the pandemic, US housing prices have <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-housing-market-overvalued-price-growth-mortgage-supply-fitch-ratings-2024-3">sharply appreciated</a> as homebuilders play catch-up with demand. High mortgage rates have kept <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/housing-market-outlook-mortgage-affordable-homes-high-prices-inventory-rates-2024-3">homeowners off the market</a>, decreasing the number of existing properties available for sale.Meanwhile, the department is also taking a closer look at how <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/housing-market-outlook-analysis-prices-rising-extreme-weather-risk-jpmorgan-2024-2">climate risks may impact housing stability,</a> Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo outlined in a related blog post. "We are working with federal and state regulators studying rising insurance costs and decreasing insurance coverage so that we can understand the impact of lack of affordable insurance on housing supply in different parts of the country," he wrote. At the moment, the Treasury lacks granular data on where homeowners are being hit hardest, and where insurers are pulling back, he said.

The US wants to boost affordable housing by using billions in unspent COVID aid

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Sen. Joe Manchin often drew the ire of Democrats for blocking Biden's climate agenda.</li><li>But Manchin managed to hold a blue seat in a red state, and was key to major climate legislation.</li></ul><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sen-manchin-approached-every-day-about-becoming-republican-2021-10">Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin</a> has often made headlines for thwarting President Joe Biden's climate change agenda — but climate activists will likely miss him when he's gone.The US <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/joe-manchin-wont-run-for-reelection-2023-11">senator</a> from West Virginia said last week he would not be seeking reelection in 2024, an announcement that came after years of butting heads with members of his own party and even some speculation that he could jump ship and join the GOP.Manchin, who chairs the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and has long been a proponent of fossil fuels, received more <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/manchin-accepted-500000-from-energy-companies-and-gop-donors-2021-10">campaign donations from the oil and gas industry</a> than any other senator and personally made <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/manchin-threatens-biden-clean-electricity-program-millions-fossil-fuel-industry-2021-10">millions in the coal industry</a>. His stance on fossil fuels put him at odds with his party and he was frequently blamed for single-handedly quashing some of the Biden administration's most ambitious <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wapo-manchin-wont-support-new-climate-spending-tax-hikes-2022-7">climate policy goals</a>.But the reality is that Manchin helped pass a major climate bill, and his successor is likely to be far less of a climate ally, as Katie Myers wrote in <a target="_blank" href="https://grist.org/politics/joe-manchin-senate-jim-justice-climate/?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_campaign=daily">Grist</a> on Friday."The supreme irony is that while Manchin was the fiercest defender of coal among Senate Democrats, his greatest single legacy will be major climate legislation," Paul Bledsoe, a lecturer at American University's Center for Environmental Policy and a former Senate staffer, told <a target="_blank" href="https://www.eenews.net/articles/sizing-up-manchins-legacy-on-energy-climate-policy/">E&amp;E News</a>, adding: "It points to a much more complex person and nuanced policy figure than the caricatures painted by activists on both sides."Manchin was one of the key senators behind the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/read-heres-whats-in-the-manchin-deal-for-bidens-agenda-2022-7">Inflation Reduction Act of 2022</a>, which set aside $370 billion in spending and tax credits to jumpstart the green energy transition. The bill marked the largest investment the US has ever made to combat climate change. It passed after a last-minute deal was struck by Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.Gerry Petrella, a former top aide to Schumer, told E&amp;E that how Manchin is remembered may ultimately depend on how the IRA delivers on its promises."So, if in seven years we are much further along in reducing carbon and growing clean energy jobs and bringing clean energy manufacturing back to the United States, none of the name-calling matters. He helped design the bill, and he had to provide the 50th vote," he said.Now, if Manchin were to be replaced by another Democrat, it would likely be a good thing for the climate agenda. But perhaps Manchin's greatest strength as a Democrat was his ability to hold his seat in an otherwise staunchly red West Virginia.Even as West Virginia overwhelmingly voted for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-fraud-trial-experts-offer-chillaxed-theory-of-asset-valuation-2023-11">former President Donald Trump</a> in the 2016 and 2020 elections, Manchin easily won reelection in 2018.With Manchin gone, his successor will almost certainly be a Republican — most likely <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jim-justice-babydog-state-address-lifting-dog-bette-midler-video-2022-1">West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice</a>, who announced in April he was running to unseat Manchin. Justice, like Manchin, made his fortune in part through family-owned coal mines. Thanks to his GOP credentials and embrace of Trump, he's even less likely to be a climate ally than Manchin.Democrats, whose Senate majority is already slim, could lose that Senate seat for the foreseeable future — making any climate bills that much harder to pass.So despite the headaches and setbacks Manchin caused the more climate-focused Democrats — and the many Americans who care about combatting climate change — they'll likely wish for him back.

Joe Manchin enraged Democrats and climate activists, but they'll miss him when he's gone

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Congress' sweeping spending bill for next year includes $1 billion for international climate aid.</li><li>The amount falls short of President Joe Biden's promise to quadruple climate aid to $11 billion.</li></ul>Congress just dealt a blow to President Joe Biden's pledge to quadruple climate financing for poorer nations to $11 billion a year.Lawmakers on Tuesday released a <a href="https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/JRQ121922.PDF">government funding bill</a> more than 4,000 pages long for the coming fiscal year that would spend just over $1 billion on international climate finance, according to an analysis that the Natural Resources Defense Council shared with Insider. The amount is only a 0.09% increase over fiscal 2022, the environmental group said.Congress is expected to pass the bill this week.The White House <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/briefing-room/2022/03/28/president-bidens-fy-2023-budget-reduces-energy-costs-combats-the-climate-crisis-and-advances-environmental-justice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">had hoped Congress would appropriate $5.3 billion for climate assistance</a>. The remainder needed to hit the $11 billion target would have come from various federal agencies that have discretion over their spending.The budget package arrived a month after world leaders at a United Nations' climate summit in Egypt <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/takeaways-un-climate-summit-loss-damage-fossil-fuels-2022-11">promised to boost funding</a> for developing countries on the front lines of a climate crisis they didn't cause. Wealthy countries like the US and those in Europe <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-which-countries-are-historically-responsible-for-climate-change/">account for 80% of greenhouse-gas emissions</a> after more than a century of burning fossil fuels to industrialize their economies."This really undermines trust in the US," Joe Thwaites, NRDC's international climate-finance advocate who conducted the group's analysis, told Insider. "It's disappointing because the US was just starting to show up. The Inflation Reduction Act provides a pathway to deliver emissions-reductions pledges. But the US commitments on international climate finance just aren't credible."In August, Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes nearly $370 billion in new climate spending and tax breaks for clean energy, electric vehicles, and homes along with other green initiatives.Thwaites noted that prior federal spending proposals by House and Senate Democrats included about $3 billion for climate finance, but those amounts were most likely shot down by Republicans who had long opposed funds like the UN's Green Climate Fund — the largest global pool of money to help developing countries deploy clean energy and adapt to rising temperatures.Democrats have a slim majority in the Senate and need at least 60 votes to clear a spending bill. Finding new money for climate efforts is likely to get harder because Republicans will soon take control of the House following the recent midterm elections.Neither the House and Senate appropriations committees nor the White House returned requests for comment.Thwaites said that even though Congress failed to fulfill US climate-aid promises again this year, the Biden administration could increase spending through other channels. US agencies like the Export-Import Bank and the International Development Finance Corporation have flexible accounts that could be steered toward climate projects."Congress has made clear what they're what they're willing to appropriate," Thwaites said. "The focus now really needs to move towards to the White House. The Biden administration needs to light a fire under these agencies and make sure they're looking under the couch cushions to find every possible way to ramp up the spending."

Once again, the US won't fulfill its promises on climate aid for developing countries. The White House had hoped to quadruple spending.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The American Red Cross responds to nearly twice as many disasters today compared with a decade ago.</li><li>The US has already seen 15 billion-dollar disasters in 2023 so far.</li><li>The relief group plans to spend $1 billion over the next few years on more staff and financial aid.</li></ul>Hurricane Idalia, which struck western Florida on Wednesday and moved through the Carolinas as a tropical storm, could be the opening round of what scientists predict <a target="_blank" href="https://newsletter.businessinsider.com/click/32565684.5796/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubm9hYS5nb3YvbmV3cy1yZWxlYXNlL25vYWEtZm9yZWNhc3RlcnMtaW5jcmVhc2UtYXRsYW50aWMtaHVycmljYW5lLXNlYXNvbi1wcmVkaWN0aW9uLXRvLWFib3ZlLW5vcm1hbD91dG1fbWVkaXVtPW5ld3NsZXR0ZXImZW1haWw9Y2JvdWRyZWF1JTQwaW5zaWRlci5jb20meD04MTI4ZTI5ZTMwN2Q4YzI2MjI4NzBjNDNkMmU4MzFhMjJjZTUwMDkyNTVhMTUwZDU0NzE3MDM1ZThjYjBkMGE2/628bdf90094963f5ad0eef3eB65b0114d">will be an "above normal" Atlantic hurricane season</a>. Officials <a target="_blank" href="https://newsletter.businessinsider.com/click/32565684.5796/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZmxvcmlkYWRpc2FzdGVyLm9yZy9ldmFjdWF0aW9uLW9yZGVycy8_dXRtX21lZGl1bT1uZXdzbGV0dGVyJmVtYWlsPWNib3VkcmVhdSU0MGluc2lkZXIuY29tJng9ODEyOGUyOWUzMDdkOGMyNjIyODcwYzQzZDJlODMxYTIyY2U1MDA5MjU1YTE1MGQ1NDcxNzAzNWU4Y2IwZDBhNg/628bdf90094963f5ad0eef3eB5c01f592">in about two dozen counties ordered residents</a> to evacuate from the Big Bend region, where the Florida Panhandle curves into the peninsula, and hundreds of thousands were without power. During these major disasters, many evacuees head to shelters run by the American Red Cross, which is racing to expand its services as hurricanes, flooding, and wildfires become more extreme due to the climate crisis. Just before Hurricane Idalia made landfall, the relief organization <a target="_blank" href="https://newsletter.businessinsider.com/click/32565684.5796/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cucmVkY3Jvc3Mub3JnL2Fib3V0LXVzL25ld3MtYW5kLWV2ZW50cy9wcmVzcy1yZWxlYXNlLzIwMjMvcmVkLWNyb3NzLWhlbHBzLWNvbW11bml0aWVzLWRldmFzdGF0ZWQtYnktdGhlLWNsaW1hdGUtY3Jpc2lzLmh0bWw_dXRtX21lZGl1bT1uZXdzbGV0dGVyJmVtYWlsPWNib3VkcmVhdSU0MGluc2lkZXIuY29tJng9ODEyOGUyOWUzMDdkOGMyNjIyODcwYzQzZDJlODMxYTIyY2U1MDA5MjU1YTE1MGQ1NDcxNzAzNWU4Y2IwZDBhNg/628bdf90094963f5ad0eef3eBe6293296">announced that it plans to spend</a> at least $1 billion over the next several years to respond to climate-fueled disasters and support survivors for longer periods of time. "Today we're responding to nearly twice as many disasters as we were a decade ago," Jennifer Pipa, the American Red Cross' vice president of disaster programs, told Insider. "When we see that kind of monumental increase in demand for our services, we acknowledge that we can't continue to do the same way of business."So far this year, the US has already seen 15 billion-dollar disasters. The Red Cross has responded to <a target="_blank" href="https://newsletter.businessinsider.com/click/32565684.5796/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYnVzaW5lc3NpbnNpZGVyLmNvbS9sYWhhaW5hLW1hdWktd2lsZGZpcmUtd2hhdC13ZW50LXdyb25nLWNsaW1hdGUtY29sb25pYWxpc20tMjAyMy04P3V0bV9tZWRpdW09bmV3c2xldHRlciZlbWFpbD1jYm91ZHJlYXUlNDBpbnNpZGVyLmNvbSZ4PTgxMjhlMjllMzA3ZDhjMjYyMjg3MGM0M2QyZTgzMWEyMmNlNTAwOTI1NWExNTBkNTQ3MTcwMzVlOGNiMGQwYTY/628bdf90094963f5ad0eef3eB06accbbe">the deadliest wildfire</a> of the last century in Maui, a typhoon that struck Guam in June, record rainfall and <a target="_blank" href="https://newsletter.businessinsider.com/click/32565684.5796/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYnVzaW5lc3NpbnNpZGVyLmNvbS9zYWZlLXBsYWNlcy1mb3ItY2xpbWF0ZS1jaGFuZ2UtdmVybW9udC1mbG9vZHMtMjAyMy03P3V0bV9tZWRpdW09bmV3c2xldHRlciZlbWFpbD1jYm91ZHJlYXUlNDBpbnNpZGVyLmNvbSZ4PTgxMjhlMjllMzA3ZDhjMjYyMjg3MGM0M2QyZTgzMWEyMmNlNTAwOTI1NWExNTBkNTQ3MTcwMzVlOGNiMGQwYTY/628bdf90094963f5ad0eef3eB68871132">flooding in the Northeast</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://newsletter.businessinsider.com/click/32565684.5796/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYnVzaW5lc3NpbnNpZGVyLmNvbS9jYWxpZm9ybmlhLXJpdmVyLWluLXNreS1jYXVzZXMtZmxvb2RzLXRob3VzYW5kcy1ldmFjdWF0ZS0yLWRlYWQtMjAyMy0zP3V0bV9tZWRpdW09bmV3c2xldHRlciZlbWFpbD1jYm91ZHJlYXUlNDBpbnNpZGVyLmNvbSZ4PTgxMjhlMjllMzA3ZDhjMjYyMjg3MGM0M2QyZTgzMWEyMmNlNTAwOTI1NWExNTBkNTQ3MTcwMzVlOGNiMGQwYTY/628bdf90094963f5ad0eef3eBcf4a5c89">atmospheric rivers</a> and a tropical storm in California, wildfires up and down the West Coast, and deadly tornadoes in the South and Midwest. The Red Cross and other emergency responders are sometimes forced to return to the same places year after year when disasters strike, and they see the resiliency of those communities erode over time. Pipa said the average recovery time after natural disasters is longer, meaning people are staying in shelters longer and require extra support to transition to sustainable housing. "We've found that 60 to 90 days post-disaster, many national organizations that have come in to provide immediate support have left and are no longer present, so resources aren't available for families," Pipa said. "That's why we're bringing in what we call bridge assistance."To address longer-term needs, the Red Cross has identified some of the most vulnerable communities and is providing families with more direct financial aid for security deposits, home repairs, and child care. The relief organization is also extending case work for up to a year, which assists people with access to healthcare, food, and housing. Nearly 400 households affected by Hurricane Ian in 2022 and the atmospheric rivers in California have participated. The Red Cross is adding 69 staffers, the majority of whom will be located at the local level. By the end of 2024, these employees will be in 15 counties across a dozen states.Establishing relationships with small nonprofits, religious organizations, and other community groups before disaster strikes is also part of the strategy, Pipa said. These groups don't always know how to plug in to a disaster-relief operation or access federal dollars, but they're often critical to delivering food to rural residents or providing healthcare."There are three distinct barriers to recovery: housing, food insecurity, and physical and mental health," Pipa said. "Those are all things that we see consistently keep folks from transitioning from shelters to their next recovery step. The Red Cross won't ever be everything to everyone. So connecting families with community partners that have expertise in these areas results in better outcomes for families."

The climate crisis is forcing the American Red Cross to expand its disaster-recovery work

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Climate change is burning a hole in Americans' wallets. </li><li>In 2021, 20 separate <keyword id="11917810" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="natural-disaster" source="Orion">natural disaster</keyword> events hit the US, totalling $145 billion in damages.</li></ul>The climate crisis means natural disasters happen more often and are more severe — and they're burning a hole in the America's wallets.2021 marked the <a href="https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions/time-series">third most costly</a> for natural disaster events in the more than 200 years the Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has been tracking. The US was hit with 20 separate billion-dollar climate events, totalling $145 billion in damages. The US is <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/think-2020s-disasters-are-wild-experts-predict-worse-in-the-future">expected</a> to experience even more natural disasters in the years to come, driving costs even higher. "We can expect a significant jump in extreme weather over the next 20 or 30 years," Piers Forster, a climate scientist <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/09/climate/climate-change-report-ipcc-un.html">told </a>the New York Times. "Things are unfortunately likely to get worse than they are today."Impacts of the climate crisis will intensify, causing financial losses to trend upward, and homeowners, <keyword id="12948769" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="insurance-companies" source="Orion">insurance companies</keyword>, taxpayers and the government will all have to foot the bill. This means more homeowners falling behind on their mortgage as insurance doesn't always cover damage costs. The Biden administration has said <keyword id="12948770" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="government-aid" source="Orion">government aid</keyword> will be <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/27/executive-order-on-tackling-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad/">necessary</a> to ease costs on Americans as the climate crisis is likely to have a <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/climate-change/">lasting presence</a>. Munich RE, a German multinational insurance company, <a href="https://www.munichre.com/en/company/media-relations/media-information-and-corporate-news/media-information/2022/natural-disaster-losses-2021.html">claims</a> the US accounted for an exceptionally high proportion of losses in 2021, of which some $85 billion were insured. It notes that both overall and insured losses were significantly higher than 2020 and 2019 when they came in at $100 billion and $52 billion, respectively."Each year across the world, natural catastrophes destroy assets running into multiple billions." The company said. "Often, only a tiny proportion of this damage is insured." <h2>Standard home insurance typically doesn't cover natural disasters</h2>Despite the threat of climate crisis, millions of American households remain uninsured. The Insurance Institute <a href="https://www.iii.org/article/spotlight-on-flood-insurance">claims</a> that in 2020, only 27% of all homeowning policyholders said they had flood insurance. This could be attributed to the fact that natural disasters are not typically covered under a standard home insurance policy, and specialty insurance puts additional pressure on finances.For many low to moderate income households, supplemental coverage is <a href="https://www.rand.org/news/press/2020/06/03.html">out of the question</a> as it could mean the difference between having a warm meal or paying the mortgage. However, opting out often leads to even more costs as these households <a href="https://www.corelogic.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2021/06/Hurricane-Report_V2WEB062921.pdf">typically struggle</a> to pay for both repairs and housing following a disaster. This happened to the residents of Lake Charles, Louisiana, who were hit by both Hurricane Laura and Hurricane Delta in 2020. A study by CoreLogic, an analytics company, <a href="https://www.corelogic.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2021/06/Hurricane-Report_V2WEB062921.pdf">found</a> that the market's mortgage delinquency rates increased as homeowners struggled to make repairs and slipped behind on their mortgage payments."For those who are homeowners, the result of a financial catastrophe results in mortgage delinquency rates increasing significantly as people, crippled by expenses and lost wages, fail to make monthly mortgage payments," CoreLogic said. "After Hurricane Laura made landfall in Lake Charles, the already-high delinquency rate shot up from 9.8% in August 5 2020 to 16.1% in September 2020, an increase of 6.3 percentage points."<h2>The government has to step in to help</h2>For uninsured homeowners there is still hope — <keyword id="12723054" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="fema" source="Orion">FEMA</keyword>'s assistance programs. While FEMA can not duplicate insurance payments, the organization <a href="https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20210202/fema-may-be-able-help-if-insurance-doesnt-cover-some-disaster-expenses">aims to help</a> survivors of natural disasters whose expenses aren't fully covered by insurance or if an insurance settlement is delayed. In 2021, the organization received additional funding from the Biden Administration's $3.46 billion <a href="https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20210805/biden-administration-commits-historic-346-billion-hazard-mitigation-funds">commitment</a> in hazard mitigation funds. FEMA also took the extra step of <a href="https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/documents/fema_updated-iappg-version-1.1.pdf">expanding</a> its services of underserved communities, to include individuals with low income and people of color, who they say "struggle more when recovering from disasters in comparison to communities with greater resources." The amendment applies to its Individual Assistance Program and Policy Guide and has created additional flexibilities that ensure access to assistance for all survivors. "Climate change is our country's biggest crisis," FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said. "Our communities will continue to suffer from losses caused by extreme weather events unless we invest in mitigation efforts to reduce the impacts of climate change."She added that new funding will allow the organization to provide direct aid to states, tribes, and territories to complete mitigation projects, build better infrastructure and create long term solutions.Whether homeowners pay for repairs out-of-pocket, through insurance, or FEMA aid, it's clear the US is in the phase of paying to fix the results of climate crisis after failing to prevent it.Are you a homeowner whose home was damaged by a natural disaster? Reach out to this reporter at <a href="mailto:alloyd@insider.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">alloyd@insider.com</a> to share your story.

America spent $145 billion on damaged homes after 20 climate events in 2021 — it will only get more expensive

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The Marshall Islands crafted a <a target="_blank" href="https://rmigov.com/RMI-NAP-2023.pdf">$35 billion adaptation plan</a>, unveiled Wednesday at COP28.</li><li>The plan could save people's lives and an Indigenous culture.</li><li>But it can only be carried out with the help of wealthy economies like the US and the EU.</li></ul>To understand the injustices of the climate crisis, take a look at the Marshall Islands.The country is responsible <a target="_blank" href="https://ourworldindata.org/co2/country/marshall-islands#what-share-of-global-co2-emissions-are-emitted-by-the-country">for less than 0.01% of greenhouse-gas emissions</a> that are warming the planet, yet it's among the most vulnerable to its effects. As glaciers and ice sheets <a target="_blank" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=f961be1d6c88a6a4450a9965dbe4856019b02a4843e3cf0c30c66f41b594912d&amp;postID=6570db1cf1dbb59a62a057b9&amp;postSlug=marshall-islands-unveil-multibillion-climate-plan-climate-conference-dubai-2023-12&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fs41558-023-01818-x">melt at an alarming pace</a>, sea levels are encroaching on the dozens of coral atolls and five islands that make up the nation in the Pacific Ocean.Most of the Marshall Islands are only 6 feet — or a couple of meters — above sea level. By 2070, sea levels are projected to rise nearly 2 feet."That doesn't sound like a lot, but that would actually inundate most of the main urban centers every 10 years and damage a lot of our islands, making it unlivable," Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner, the Marshall Islands' climate envoy, told Business Insider.High tide and swell waves would put the nearly 42,000 residents of the Marshall Islands at risk of regular flooding and food insecurity.To stave off that kind of devastation, the Marshall Islands crafted a <a target="_blank" href="https://rmigov.com/RMI-NAP-2023.pdf">$35 billion adaptation plan</a>, unveiled Wednesday at the UN climate summit in Dubai, known as COP28. The plan could save people's lives and an Indigenous culture deeply intertwined with the environment, Jetn̄il-Kijiner said. She explained that her necklace was made by local artisans who pound, strip, and dry leaves into a thread that is then woven with shells. Traditions like that could disappear along with the coastlines where native plants and marine life flourish.<div type="image" title="A necklace made of shells from a local artisan." height="3872" width="2907" msid="105820217" hostid="261" sizebytes="565594"></div>The adaptation plan calls for fortifying low-lying islands, building seawalls, elevating homes, and constructing desalination plants. But it can only be carried out with the help of wealthy economies like the US and the European Union.The wealthy nations that are most responsible for the climate crisis are under pressure at COP28 to boost financial aid for developing countries so they can become more resilient to natural disasters and be compensated for climate losses.Vice President Kamala Harris <a target="_blank" href="https://www.state.gov/announcement-of-pledge-to-second-replenishment-of-the-green-climate-fund/">announced on Saturday that the US would pledge $3 billion to a Green Climate Fund</a> devoted to developing countries. Former President Barack Obama made a similar promise in 2014, only $2 billion of which has been delivered so far. The US also committed $17.5 million to a new "loss and damage" fund that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cop28-dubai-un-climate-summit-sultan-al-jaber-oil-loss-damage-2023-11">countries agreed to set up at the outset of COP28.</a>The world's wealthiest nations were supposed to provide $100 billion a year in climate funding by 2020 but hit the target two years later. That isn't enough to cover the amount developing nations would need to adapt to the changing climate — <a target="_blank" href="https://www.unep.org/resources/adaptation-gap-report-2023">the UN recently said they'd require</a> hundreds of billions of dollars more.The Marshall Islands has long been a leader in advocating for aggressive climate action during UN summits. At COP28, the country hopes a deal emerges to double the finance target."It's completely inequitable to expect us to pay for this ourselves," Jetn̄il-Kijiner said.She added that countries also need to agree to phase out fossil fuels."Adaptation can only protect us for now," she said. "But the costs are going to be exponentially worse if we don't address the root cause of the crisis, which is fossil fuels."

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