Despite growing awareness about how climate change intensifies weather disasters, the world remains unprepared for the escalating climate shocks communities are already experiencing, the head of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) said in a speech at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center in D.C. Tuesday.
“Today, I don’t think there’s anything that I can say about the climate disasters that the world is facing that would come as a shock,” USAID Administrator Samantha Power said. “Superlatives like ‘hottest,’ ‘costliest,’ ‘deadliest’ no longer come as a surprise.”
More than 12,000 people died in climate change-fueled disasters globally in 2023—an increase of 30% compared to 2022, an analysis from nonprofit Save the Children found. Last year the world experienced the warmest 12 months ever recorded.
But the financing currently available for developing nations to build resilience to climate change impacts remains between 10 and 18 times lower than what is needed, Power said, citing a recent United Nations report.
“Even the more chronic, slow-moving disasters, like droughts that extend from months to years to decades, or coastlines that sink into the sea—even those are catching us flat-footed,” Power said. “Indeed, although these occurrences have lost the power to shock our psyches, they are in fact massively shocking our systems.”
Power Urges Action from Public and Private Sectors, Announces New USAID Funding
Global investment in climate change action has grown rapidly over the last decade. But most of that growth has gone toward climate mitigation (efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, such as renewable energy technology) instead of toward climate adaptation, Power said. The nations hardest hit by climate disasters today are often low- and middle-income countries who have historically contributed the least to the fossil fuel emissions causing climate change.
“Some of the most awkward conversations I’ve had have been with world leaders or community leaders during climate-related emergencies, who remind me of just how paltry a share of global emissions their country’s produced—who then thank you for the humanitarian relief that the American people are providing,” Power said.
During her speech, she highlighted USAID’s work on climate adaptation issues, including SERVIR—a partnership with NASA that uses satellite data and mapping technology to provide early warning of weather disasters to communities across the globe. She announced that USAID would provide an additional $11 million for the program this year.
Power announced other new USAID funding for adaptation during her speech, including a $5 million initial investment in local climate resilience researchers in Africa, the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean and $6 million to help public sector leaders in the Caribbean access more private investment for climate adaptation.
Power emphasized that governments needed to find ways to incentivize private sector investment in “resilience innovation” to create affordable, scalable solutions for protecting people from worsening weather disasters. Those investments can fund ideas like heat- and drought-resistant seeds or satellite-powered flood insurance.
With Gaza in Mind, Audience Members Questioned USAID ‘Hypocrisy‘
About half an hour into Power’s speech, a protester in the audience stood and interrupted the administrator, holding up a sign referencing the climate impacts of Israeli bombings of Gaza in response to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. More than 26,000 Palestinians have died since the start of the conflict, and almost 2 million (about 85% of the population in Gaza) have been displaced.
“You wrote a book on genocide and you’re still working for the [Biden] administration—you should really resign and speak up,” the activist said from the back of the auditorium. “You know, what would cause a lot of climate shock is a bombardment of Gaza.”
According to a description on Power’s personal website, her Pulitzer Prize-winning 2002 book “A Problem from Hell” examines the last century of American history and “asks the haunting question: Why do American leaders who vow ‘never again’ repeatedly fail to stop genocide?”
After the protester left the room, ushered out by event staff, Power resumed her planned speech but promised to address the conflict in Gaza during her conversation with Bloomberg Washington Bureau Chief Peggy Collins immediately afterward. She did so, pointing out that USAID is one of the leading responders providing humanitarian aid in Gaza.
“There is not a single call that the president makes or engagement that anybody in the administration does that doesn’t put the importance of civilian protection and international humanitarian law at the top of the conversation,” Power said.
The U.S. spends nearly $4 billion each year to support Israel’s military. Following the Hamas attack, in which the terrorist group killed over 1,200 people and took around 240 hostages, President Joe Biden requested an additional $14 billion in military aid. Biden also approved two emergency weapons sales to Israel in December.
When Power finished talking with Collins, she took two audience questions. The first question came from a contract specialist with USAID.
“The U.S.-funded genocide in Gaza has really left us unable to be moral leaders on climate change and all the other pressing development and humanitarian issues those of us who work at USAID care so much about,” the audience member said. “How are you leading us to reckon with and overcome this hypocrisy in U.S. foreign policy?”
In response, Power reiterated that USAID is working to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza and that the administration favored a “humanitarian pause” in order to get basic services to the area, where Israel has largely cut off access to food, water, fuel and essential medicines. At the same time, she justified continued U.S. support for Israel and its military.
“The root cause, fundamentally, of the war that is causing such humanitarian pain, is that the people who carried out October 7 would do it again in a heartbeat if they could,” Power said. “We have, as public servants, the privilege of being stewards of vast resources to try to make a difference in people’s lives. And I absolutely understand the perspectives of people who wish the United States were doing something differently in Gaza… but we have jobs to do.”