Background

The Summary for Policymakers of the Working Group II contribution to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report states that human-induced climate change, including more frequent and intense extreme weather events, has caused widespread adverse impacts and related losses and damages to nature and people. Simultaneously, climate change manifests in accelerating slow onset events like sea-level rise, increased temperatures, desertification, and glacial retreat that are threatening livelihoods. Various losses and damages of both economic (loss of assets, infrastructure, land etc.) and non-economic (loss of societal beliefs and values, knowledge systems, cultural heritage, biodiversity and ecosystem services) nature associated with sudden and slow onset climatic events have been reported. According to the IPCC, the magnitude and rate of climate change and associated risks depend strongly on near-term mitigation and adaptation actions, and projected adverse impacts and related losses and damages escalate with every increment of global warming.

Acknowledging the increased severity of recent natural and climate-related disasters such as extreme weather events, flood and drought, scaling up disaster risk reduction (DRR) actions and disaster risk finance at local, regional, national and global levels, is one of the priorities that should be urgently enhanced among wide-ranging measures to avert, minimize and address loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change.

The COP27 and CMA4 decisions on establishing new funding arrangements for responding to loss and damage as well as on the institutional arrangements for the full operationalization of the Santiago network (SN) were concrete steps to enhance the technical and financial support provided to developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. G7 members are strengthening their contribution to averting, minimizing and addressing loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change through several initiatives, including joint G7/V20 initiative of the Global Shield against Climate Risks, and while recognizing some members are taking additional efforts to contribute to early warning systems such as the Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems initiative (CREWS), through efforts to make the SN fully operational, and activities in the context of the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) 2015-2030[1]. Nonetheless, to further support developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change, it is important to enhance visibility of and access to available technical and financial solutions and support for risk reduction of, response to and recovery from climate disasters.

Purpose of this Inventory

We compile this inventory with the aim of mapping existing support mechanisms for the developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change, to maximize the effectiveness of their risk reduction of, response to, and recovery from climate disasters, which is among the priorities that should be urgently enhanced among a wide-range of measures to avert, minimize and address loss and damage.

By mapping the support provided by each G7 member, this inventory aims to describe the overall picture of existing and committed G7 support for risk reduction of, response to and recovery from climate disasters. This mapping is meant to support future discussions under the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement, the SFDRR 2015-2030, especially for discussions related to its target F (i.e., enhance international cooperation on DRR) in the context of SFDRR mid-term review to be conducted in May 2023, and other fora. In the context of the SN, it will contribute to catalyzing technical assistance by identifying potential network members and increasing access to existing sources of support. Additionally, it will contribute to the discussions on the new funding arrangements responding to loss and damage under the transitional committee to identify the priority gaps within the current landscape for which solutions are to be explored. For countries that are particularly vulnerable to climate change that are considering applying for support, the document will serve as useful reference material to look for support options already in operation.

The inventory includes various support provided by G7 members that can be utilized both pre- and post-disasters with broad regional coverage of the globe. In particular, there are more than 120 capacity building support in more than 190 countries relating to climate impact assessment, disaster risk management and so on. Also, there are 13 climate and disaster risk insurance-based mechanisms in African, Southeast Asian, Pacific and Caribbean region to pool risks with other countries in the region, some of which is established by contribution of G7 members. There are 27 financial schemes for African, Asia-Pacific and Latin American countries for post-event reconstruction that commonly have mechanisms to enable rapid payouts without insurance claim investigation in the event of a large-scale disaster to help vulnerable countries as soon as possible. One of the priority areas among G7 members is to support developing countries in establishing operational EWS at regional, national and local levels. Efforts are being made worldwide in capacity building and development of meteorological observation equipment, participating in international frameworks related to EWS and involving the private sector to develop early warning systems (40 activities in more than 75 developing countries including African, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Caribbean States). G7 members are also enhancing knowledge sharing, international cooperation, and private sector involvement to underpin their support.

The sheets provided by G7 members, which are prepared separately from the communiqué, are on the website[2] of Ministry of the Environment of Japan. G7 Presidency of the year is considering hosting a side event at the COP28 relating to this inventory in collaboration with G7 members.

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Notes

[1] Although each state has the primary responsibility to prevent and reduce disaster risk as stated in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) 2015-2030, G7 members have been providing a wide range of support for the implementation of the framework, in such areas as:
(1) Understanding disaster risk, including pre-disaster risk assessment based on relevant data, (
2) Strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk, through participation of relevant stakeholders, etc.,
(3) Investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience, including structural measures such as development of DRR infrastructure and non-structural measures such as land use regulations, and
(4) Disaster preparedness for effective response to residual risk even after pre-investment in disaster risk reduction, including capacity building and investing in EWS, and to “Build Back Better” in recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction. ↩

[2] URL: https://www.env.go.jp/en/earth/cc/adaptation/g7inventory.html ↩

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Source: Ministry of the Environment, Japan

—	This Information System is provided by the University of Toronto Libraries and the G7 Research Group at the University of Toronto.
	Please send comments to: g7@utoronto.ca This page was last updated April 03, 2025.

Background

Purpose of this Inventory

Contents

Notes