COP31: The ICRC's call to strengthen climate action and finance to reach people in conflict settings
Climate change poses a grave threat to people everywhere. Warming is causing climate variations, including more extreme and less predictable weather around the world, and global efforts have so far not been enough to prevent, let alone reverse, these trends.
People living through armed conflict and other situations of violence are among the hardest hit, yet they have the fewest means and the least support to cope with and adapt to a changing climate (ICRC, 2026). Conflict wears down countries’ adaptive capacities, making them highly vulnerable to climate shocks. Where climate risks and conflict converge, institutional capacity is weakened, essential services become harder to access, and food, water and economic insecurity deepen. (ICRC, 2020 and 2023).
Recognition has grown of the need to strengthen climate action and deliver more climate financing in conflict-affected and fragile settings, including notably through key commitments such as the COP28 Declaration on Climate, Relief, Recovery and Peace. These commitments must lead to practical action. Strong, sustainably financed climate action in conflict-affected and fragile settings is essential to address humanitarian needs, help build resilience, prevent development reversals and avoid
entrenching fragility.
At COP31, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) urges parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the governing bodies of the Conference of Parties (COP) to commit to three actions so that people enduring armed conflict are not left behind:
- take urgent and ambitious political action to reduce emissions and to keep global warming within a habitable range in order to avoid the worst consequences of climate change for people and communities
- acknowledge officially that conflict-affected and fragile countries are highly vulnerable to climate risks owing to their limited capacity to adapt
- implement commitments to scale up climate action in countries affected by conflict and ensure that such action is underpinned by sufficient, accessible and fit-for-purpose finance.
1. Take urgent and ambitious political action to reduce emissions and to keep global warming within a habitable range in order to avoid the worst consequences of climate change for people and communities
Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, countries committed to limit global warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees. Over ten years later, the world remains off course, with the 1.5-degree threshold very likely to be crossed within the next decade (UNEP, 2025).
Because of past emissions, some warming will continue, which will compound and intensify climate extremes and deepen humanitarian crises. In all scenarios, more climate adaptation will be needed, requiring profound social, cultural, political and economic change. Without effective mitigation, and once the limits of adaptation strategies are exceeded, climate change will continue to take a toll on all aspects of people’s lives: their homes, infrastructure, assets and livelihoods. Communities will need support to avert, minimize and address the loss and damage associated with the impacts of climate change, and to limit biodiversity loss and environmental degradation, so that the most vulnerable people and communities – including those affected by conflict – do not fall even further behind.
We urge parties to the UNFCCC to:
- accelerate and increase their ambitions to cut greenhouse gas emissions, consistent with the 1.5°C goal, adapt to heightened risks and address losses and damage.
2. Acknowledge officially that conflict-affected and fragile countries are highly vulnerable to climate risks owing to their limited capacity to adapt
The international community has committed to providing support to countries that are highly vulnerable to climate change. Over half the countries considered most vulnerable and least ready to adapt to climate change are enduring armed conflict. Climate change does not directly cause conflict, but conflict does increase the fragility of the institutions, services, infrastructure and governance that are essential to helping people and communities cope with and adapt to a changing climate.
The COP28 Declaration on Climate, Relief, Recovery and Peace was an important acknowledgement of the need for stronger climate action in conflict settings, with clear commitments made by states and other actors. This can be built upon by incorporating into formal COP outcome documents language recognizing the particular vulnerability of least developed countries affected by conflict or fragility, which would help focus efforts towards addressing their specific needs. This would not create a new category: most conflict-affected countries are already counted among the world’s least developed countries – a group the UNFCCC recognizes as requiring specific support to adapt to a changing climate (UNFCCC, 2015). Outcome documents should also recognize that conflict and fragility drive individual and community vulnerability. This recognition will help ongoing efforts to support vulnerable commu-nities in conflict-affected and fragile settings.
We urge parties to the UNFCCC to:
- acknowledge, in official COP outcome documents, the particular vulnerability of countries and communities affected by armed conflict and fragility, as this is critical to ensuring adequate climate action in these settings.
3. Implement commitments to scale up climate action in countries affected by conflict and ensure that such action is underpinned by sufficient, accessible and fit-for-purpose finance
The international community has recognized that people in conflict-affected settings need help to adapt to a changing climate. While there has been some positive progress on this, it remains insufficient. Climate action and finance are lagging in highly unstable settings because of the challenges of delivering long-term programming in these contexts. Further, conflict-affected areas within countries, especially in areas not under state control, can often be excluded from climate finance because of risk mitigation strategies, leaving millions of people without this support (Cao et al., 2021).
This gap can and must be closed. Delivering climate action is possible even in the most complex settings. It requires delivering and scaling up climate finance that is mainly grant-based or highly concessional (particularly for adaptation), and addressing loss and damage, including using tailored risk assessments and flexible eligibility criteria that can keep pace with fast-changing situations (ICRC and ODI, 2024). Support must reach people and communities across the full spectrum of fragility and conflict, not only those contexts where fit-for-purpose financing is less challenging to secure and disburse.
We urge parties to the UNFCCC to:
- step up efforts to strengthen climate action for countries, people and communities affected by armed conflict
- ensure that climate finance for mitigation and adaptation and for addressing loss and damage is sufficient, accessible, flexible and fit for the purpose of addressing the needs of countries and communities affected by conflict and fragility. This means taking a different approach to risk, increasing support for tailored national and local efforts and removing the barriers that keep climate finance from reaching these settings.
