Using markets to adapt to climate change

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Source: Science Magazine

Original: https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.aea7431?af=R...

Published: 2026-02-12T07:00:04Z

Even under the most ambitious scenarios for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, climate change will affect human well-being for generations, with the severity of impacts varying across mitigation pathways.[3] Adaptation to climate change is therefore a necessary complement to mitigation.[3] Individuals, businesses and communities benefit directly from their adaptation decisions, so their motivation to adapt is stronger than the motivation to reduce emissions.[3] However, evidence to date shows that communities are not systematically adapting to recent climate changes.[3] Policymakers can support adaptation by designing and regulating markets, which in many cases motivate the economy to effectively adapt to complex and large-scale impacts.[3] The article builds on the growing economic research on climate adaptation and identifies when and how markets can serve as a tool for effective and efficient adaptation.[3]