Loss and Damage and limits to adaptation: recent IPCC insights and implications for climate science and policy
Recent evidence shows that climate change is leading to irreversible and existential impacts on vulnerable communities and countries across the globe. Among other effects, this has given rise to public debate and engagement around notions of climate crisis and emergency. The Loss and Damage (L&D) policy debate has emphasized these aspects over the last three decades. Yet the debate has remained vague, particularly with reference to its remit and relationship to adaptation policy and practice.
This article reviews insights derived from recent publications by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and others and presents the implications for science and policy. Emerging evidence on hard and soft adaptation limits in certain systems, sectors and regions holds the potential to further build momentum for climate policy to live up to the Paris ambition of stringent emission reductions and to increase efforts to support the most vulnerable.