The loss and damage fund available to help countries vulnerable to climate change is now “close to US$400 million” — still half of the US$788 million pledged — according to Ibrahima Cheikh Diong, the fund’s executive director.
“It is important to underscore pledges is one thing, but the conversion of the pledges into actual money is another thing,” Diong told reporters on Friday.
The Philippines serves as host country of the board overseeing the fund for responding to loss and damage.
Diong said having half of what is pledged converted into actual money is already a “good sign.” The World Bank currently houses this fund.
Leaders and advocates say developing countries need US$1.3 trillion a year to meet climate goals. In 2024, nations settled for a climate finance target of US$300 billion a year by 2035.
The board concluded its seventh meeting in Manila on Thursday, -09 October, a month before world leaders and delegates gather again in Belem, Brazil, for the annual United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30).
Diong said the board will be calling for funding request proposals during COP30. Countries requesting for money will undergo five to six months of processing to make sure proposals meet the board’s criteria. These countries will have to create a “focal point,” which will coordinate with the board regarding progress on the ground and identify the priorities that need to be funded.
“Once that decision is made, immediately after, the board would instruct the trust fund within the World Bank to write the check [which] goes to the countries,” said Diong.
The loss and damage fund is intended to help countries deal with irreversible impacts caused by extreme weather conditions and slow onset events. The fund was approved at COP28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in 2023.
As the meeting was happening in Manila, environment and climate groups trooped to the venue on Monday, 07 October, to call for more ambitious targets and policy reforms, such as the climate accountability bill.
“As the host country of the fund responding to loss and damage board, we must demonstrate leadership by pushing for landmark national legislation that will compel coal, oil, and gas companies to face justice and pay up,” said Maya Quirino of the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Centre.
The COP presidency is calling COP30 the “implementation COP,” to focus on delivery of climate ambitions the world set a decade ago in the historic Paris Agreement.
