Adaptation remains severely under-prioritised in global financial transition planning, exposing a gap in attention and a deeper failure across financial systems. As climate impacts accelerate, especially for least developed countries (LDCs) and small island developing states (SIDS), the economic and social losses grow more severe. A convergence of five systemic, institutional and epistemic barriers drives this imbalance: institutional bias towards mitigation, fragmented data infrastructure, misaligned financial incentives, lack of standardised adaptation metrics, and return-on-investment models that omit resilience co-benefits.

The G20, given its influence over global financial norms, is well positioned to shift this trajectory. Building on the G20 Sustainable Finance Roadmap, Indonesia’s 2022 Transition Finance Framework, and Brazil’s 2024 Principles for Financial Institution and Corporate Transition Plans – alongside the forthcoming Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) indicators under the UAE-Belém Work Programme – there is now a foundation for embedding adaptation within transition planning.

This brief proposes three mutually reinforcing policy recommendations for G20 members to champion:

• mandating adaptation-inclusive transition plans aligned with TCFD and national strategies (NDCs and NAPs) to steer finance toward resilience;
• strengthening institutional capacity in climate-vulnerable countries, with a focus on local risk data and tools to assess the resilience dividend; and
• aligning monitoring systems by linking financial disclosures with GGA-compatible tracking frameworks to improve transparency and accountability.

This is not a call for incremental reform but a demand for a systemic reset to confront the equity crisis embedded in adaptation finance. G20 members should take up this challenge to strengthen macro-economic resilience and lead a shift toward more inclusive, just, and climate-resilient development.