BOSTON – Humanity has long learned to live with extreme weather. Much of the Netherlands would be under water were it not for centuries of ingenious adaptation to the constant threat of flooding. Likewise, ancient communities on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates developed ways to capture and direct excess water to nourish and protect fields.

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But the number of places exposed to extreme weather will only grow. According to new research from the McKinsey Global Institute, Advancing adaptation: Mapping costs from cooling to coastal defenses, the world spends $190 billion per year on investments in 20 key adaptation measures that protect roughly 1.2 billion people. But three billion more people, over three-quarters of whom live in low-income regions, have only limited protection.

Extending developed-economy standards of protection to all exposed places would require $540 billion annually. That means there is a $350 billion gap, 60% of which is........

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