Urban areas are increasingly at risk from climate change with negative impacts predicted for human health, the economy and ecosystems 1,2. These risks require responses from cities to improve their resilience. Policymakers need to understand current adaptation spend in order to plan comprehensively and effectively. Through the measurement of spend in the newly defined 'Adaptation Economy', we analyse current climate change adaptation efforts in 10 megacities. In all cases, the Adaptation Economy remains a small part of the overall economy, representing a maximum of 0.33% of a city's GDP (GDPc). Differences in total spend are significant between developed, emerging and developing country cities, ranging from £15 million to £1,600 million. Comparing key sub-sectors, we demonstrate the differences in adaptation profiles. Developing cities have higher proportional spend on health and agriculture, while developed cities have higher spend on energy and water. Spend per capita and percentage of GDPc comparisons more clearly show disparities between cities. Developing country cities spend half the proportion
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