Climate policy
Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA)
Definition
The global goal on adaptation was established by Article 7.1 of the Paris Agreement as the goal of enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience, and reducing vulnerability to climate change, with a view to contributing to sustainable development and ensuring an adequate adaptation response in the context of the temperature goal. It was operationalised by the UAE Framework for Global Climate Resilience, adopted at CMA 5 (2023, Decision 2/CMA.5) with thematic and adaptation-cycle targets, and further specified by 59 Belém Adaptation Indicators adopted at CMA 7 (2025).
References
mandate and milestones
framework targets
Overview
What it means
For years adaptation lacked the measurable counterpart that 1. 5 °C gives mitigation.
The GGA is the attempt to close that gap: the UAE Framework sets 2030 targets across water, food, health, ecosystems, infrastructure, livelihoods, and cultural heritage, plus targets for the adaptation cycle itself (risk assessment, planning, implementation, monitoring), and the Belém indicators will track progress into the global stocktake.
How it is used
Negotiators use the GGA to structure adaptation ambition and finance debates — including the call to double adaptation finance; countries align national adaptation plans and reporting with the framework.
Why it matters
Adaptation receives a fraction of climate finance partly because success is hard to measure; the GGA gives the adaptation agenda a common destination and a way to hold commitments to account.