Scaling down climate adaptation finance justice: how cosmopolitan allocation ideals withstand sovereign realities at the subnational level

Pierre Beaucoral · Paul Vernus

Joint work with Paul Vernus on how the justice ideals embedded in global climate governance play out when adaptation finance is allocated within countries. Using geocoded adaptation finance across tens of thousands of subnational units worldwide (2000–2022), the project contrasts cosmopolitan allocation principles with the sovereign realities that shape where funding actually lands. Work in progress — presented at the CERDI doctoral seminar (March 2026).

Preliminary work in progress — full paper and results coming soon.