The adaptation communication was established by Article 7, paragraphs 10 and 11, of the Paris Agreement. Each Party should submit and update periodically an adaptation communication, which may include information on its priorities, implementation and support needs, plans and actions.

Its purposes are to increase the visibility and profile of adaptation and its balance with mitigation, strengthen adaptation action and support for developing countries, provide input to the global stocktake, and enhance learning and understanding of adaptation needs and actions.

The adaptation communication shall be submitted, as appropriate, as a component of or in conjunction with other communications and/or documents, including a national adaptation plan, a national communication, a nationally determined contribution, or a biennial transparency report.

Decision 9/CMA.1 contains the guidance for preparing and submitting an adaptation communication. It outlines the general modalities for submission, recommends timelines, outlines how the adaptation communication relates to other documents containing adaptation information, and identifies the specific types of information that Parties may include.

The adaptation communications are recorded in the public registry.

Parties can submit their adaptation communications by logging in to the public registry. Questions about the public registry can be directed to the secretariat via adaptation-communications@unfccc.int.

Supplementary guidance for adaptation communications

Decision 9/CMA.1 requested the Adaptation Committee to develop, with the engagement of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group II, using relevant existing guidance as a starting point, as appropriate, by June 2022, draft supplementary guidance for voluntary use by Parties in communicating information in accordance with the elements contained in the annex. This draft supplementary guidance was prepared for the consideration by the subsidiary bodies at their fifty-seventh sessions (November 2022) in the context of their consideration of the report of the Adaptation Committee and is available here.

The Adaptation Committee worked towards this request from 2019 to 2022 and engaged Parties, scientists and observers in the development of the guidance along the way, including through a webinar in 2021 and an expert meeting in 2022.