The Copenhagen Accord reached at a U.N. summit in December 2009, though non-binding, agreed that money to give a quick push to efforts to slow climate change from 2010-12 would have a "balanced allocation between adaptation and mitigation."

But that's not the case - instead, political efforts mean the $30 billion pledged is geared too strongly toward mitigation and only 11 percent of the money will go to adaptation strategies like new farming practices, according to the report by the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).