Urbanisation is a global trend which is interacting with climate change to create complex risks in cities and settlements, especially for those that already have high levels of poverty, unemployment, housing informality and backlogs of services. Many cities and settlements are seeing increasing action to manage climate risks. On top of reducing communities' exposure to climate risk, adaptation actions can have benefits for reducing urban poverty and enhancing economic performance in ways that reduce inequality and advance sustainability goals. Adaptation actions, however, can also have unintended consequences. That is why care needs to be taken to ensure climate adaptation planning and development of new infrastructure does not exacerbate inequality or negatively impact other sustainable development priorities. Climate adaptation planning is most effective when it is sensitive to the diverse ways that low-income and minority communities are more likely to experience climate risk, including women, children, migrants, refugees, internally displaced peoples and racial/ethnic minority groups, among others.
IPCC
Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
IPCC Report