In contrast to previous assessments, AR6 is increasingly focused on the needs for and challenges of assessing the societal response to climate change. The accurate tabulation of adaptation, a key question for examining the solution space, is difficult , since many forms of adaptation activity are under-represented in the peer-reviewed and grey literature. Moreover, the related question of assessing the effectiveness of adaptation, that is, the extent to which it reduces risk, is also difficult. Estimating risk reduction often involves counterfactuals, for instance, quantifying the damage a flood would have caused had a community not adapted prior to a storm or projecting the damage averted by today's adaptation in some future storm . Many socioeconomic drivers affect risk, so attribution for any observed or projected changes must be allocated among those that are due to adaptation and those due to economic development, cultural changes and other types of policies and trends. For instance, many measures of sustainable development overlap with those for adaptive capacity and both can reduce climate risk while also yielding benefits irrespective of future climate regimes . There are also many different goals for adaptation both among and within different jurisdictions, so that adaptation efforts deemed effective by some individuals may not be deemed effective by others .
IPCC
Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
IPCC Report