REACTION: “Global loss and damage fund a “welcome, yet long overdue” step forward

Date: 30 November 2023
Campaigns: Climate

Izzie McIntosh, climate campaign manager at Global Justice Now said:

The establishment of a global loss and damage fund is a welcome, yet long overdue, step forward for our climate. It reflects the utter devastation caused by climate change in the global south, and the need for rich countries to pay what they owe for their role in it. The UK must now stand up to the oil and gas companies raking in billions in profits year after year at the world’s collective expense, and fund a significant contribution to the loss and damage through permanent polluter taxes.

Whilst the world took a historic step agreeing to this vital fund, rich countries have weakened the commitment they made to climate justice by insisting on the World Bank as interim host. This decision risks both excluding countries due to its outdated rules and deepening the debt crisis if support is provided through loans, not grants. If loss and damage funding is to be truly impactful, it must be funded and designed adequately, or risk being all talk and no action.”