First pledges to Loss and Damage Fund at COP28

Reacting to the first pledges to the Loss and Damage Fund at COP28, Tom Mitchell, IIED’s executive director, said:

Press release, 30 November 2023
Collection
UN climate change conference (COP28)
A series of pages related to IIED's activities at the 2023 UNFCCC climate change summit in Dubai

"Climate change is already upon us, disrupting and ending lives. The announcements of loss and damage funding from the UK, UAE and others is a good start to a pot of money many feared might remain empty for years. While overdue, it’s a welcome recognition of the fact that polluting actions taken in the past by wealthy countries are having major impacts now for the global South.

"The countries most vulnerable to this crisis are in many cases the ones least able to tackle it. Other major economies that benefited in the past from fossil fuel exploitation should follow suit to help them rebuild after disasters.

"Their next task is to get the money to where it’s needed most – but avoiding the clunky bureaucracy that is so often a brake on effective funding. People on the front lines of climate change will also want to be reassured this really is new money, and not simply a repackaging of existing commitments."

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