The Loss and Damage Fund: An unfinished agenda

The 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) began with the adoption of the Loss and Damage Fund for developing countries. The fund, agreed to at the COP27, got pledges of ~$400 million with COP28 host, UAE, pledging $100 million. Sarthak Ray explains the 'loss and damage' concept and the challenges that remain

- Sarthak Ray

● The concept 

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) defines 'loss and damage' as the economic and non-economic losses stemming from climate change impacts, including extreme weather events such as storm-surges, heatwaves, floods and droughts, as well as slow onset events such as ocean acidification, melting of glaciers, loss of biodiversity, sea-level rise, etc, accruing to human and natural systems.

The Loss and Damage Fund is understood as rehabilitation and relief financing for climate-vulnerable developing nations, which have had a very small contribution to global warming in terms of their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions but are facing the brunt of climate change effects The fund is perceived to also be a form of climate compensation from rich countries, whose emissions account for the bulk of warming so far.

● Genesis and evolution in climate talks

The Fund was first proposed by the Alliance of Small Island States, represented by Vanuatu's, in 1991, and entered the official text of COP in 2007.