Current global efforts to mitigate climate change point to a temperature rise of 2.8°C by the end of the century; far away from reaching the Paris Agreement (PA) goal of limiting global warming to well below 2°C, let alone ‘best case’ 1.5°C (UNEP, 2022). The consequences of non-action and failure to adapt to the changing climate are already felt heavily in many parts of the world, as extreme precipitation events, heat waves and wildfires are becoming more and more common (WMO, 2023). Despite this urgency, finance, planning and implementation of adaptation action are lagging, which increasingly translates into less adaptation than would be optimal and significantly increases losses and damages, especially among the most vulnerable populations (UNEP, 2023).