WHAT HAPPENED ON LOSS AND DAMAGE IN WEEK ONE OF COP 30?

‍The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), thirtieth Conference of the Parties (COP 30) has reached its halfway point in Belém, Brazil. 

Recent and ongoing climate intensified disasters such as Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica, Cuba and Haiti, back-to-back typhoons in the Philippines, and the powerful tornado that struck in Brazil, demonstrate the urgency of addressing the loss and damage that is being caused by the climate crisis. Has week one of COP 30 made enough progress on urgently scaling up loss and damage support? 
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Launch of the Call for Proposal for the Start Up Phase of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage — the Barbados Implementation Modalities 

The  Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), was established at COP 27 in Egypt in 2022 and was operationalised at COP 28 in Dubai. It is a fund to deliver money to developing countries and the communities within them to address loss and damage.

On the first day of COP 30, the FRLD launched the call for funding requests for its start up phase —the Barbados Implementation Modalities (BIM). A total of 250 million USD is allocated to the BIM and once the call for funding requests officially opens on the 15th of December developing countries will have six months to submit their funding request for projects and programs of between 5-20 million USD. The Board of the Fund will then start approving requests at its ninth Board meeting in July, 2026. For developing countries preparing funding requests technical assistance is available from the Santiago Network and will soon be available from the Fund itself.

The BIM provides a critical opportunity for the FRLD to learn through doing at the same time as the Fund’s Board works to develop its long term policies in parallel. The projects and programs delivered under the BIM will provide long overdue support to countries and communities who have until now picked up the bill for loss and damage wrought by a climate crisis they have done little or nothing to cause. It is also an important opportunity for developing countries to demonstrate how the Fund can deliver community access and rapidly release funds by putting in place national financial arrangements, despite the FRLD itself not being able to do this under the BIM.

Whilst we welcome the launch of the call for funding request by the FRLD, 250 million USD is just a drop in the ocean compared to what is needed—  scientists project that  developing countries need 395 billion USD in 2025 alone. There is also much work to be done to make the Fund fit for purpose including ensuring that the fund is filled with at least 400 billion USD a year, that it can respond within 48 hours of a climate intensified disaster and that it guarantees direct access to small grants for communities. 

Read our full reaction to the launch of the call for funding request for the BIM here.
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Third Review of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage 

The Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage (WIM) is the oldest piece of the Loss and Damage support landscape. Its functions include enhancing knowledge, strengthening dialogue and coordination, and enhancing action and support. It consists of  an Executive Committee (ExCom) with five expert groups which serves as a policy and knowledge hub for Loss and Damage and  the Santiago Network —a network to enhance implementation. 

The third review of the WIM was scheduled to take place at COP 29 in Baku, Azerbaijan in November, 2024, but agreement could not be reached and it has continued through the 2025 June Climate Meetings to COP 30. 

There were 14 hours of negotiations on the third review of the WIM this week, many of which happened behind closed doors. Parties (countries) have been given more time to continue negotiations next week on the basis of an informal note capturing the text that they have developed so far. This informal note has no legal status, but it does give us a sense of the areas where agreement might be possible with areas of agreement highlighted in green. 

Areas in green include elements on: 1). A State of Loss and Damage Report (aka Loss and Damage Gap Report); 2). Submission of and support for both developing countries and communities to access and prepare requests for technical assistance; 3).  ExCom activities to enhance access to technical assistance and finance including knowledge product on existing methodologies for assessing the economic and non-economic loss and damage; and; 4). Elements to enhance coordination and complementarity between the ExCom, Santiago Network and FRLD.

Looking at the informal note, critical components where Parties still need to find a resolution are: 1). Voluntary guidance on the inclusion of Loss and Damage in national plans, including Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs);  2). Reference to Loss and Damage components within the decision on the first  Global Stocktake; 3). Addressing the urgent need to scale up finance for Loss and Damage; and; 4). Preambular paragraphs that  welcome the findings of the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) historic Advisory Opinion on Climate Change (ICJAO) and acknowledge the central importance of  human rights in the context of loss and damage.   

As negotiations continue on the third WIM review next week, we call on Parties and the COP 30 Presidency to push for an ambitious outcome that delivers at the very least all of the outcomes listed above. 

Find out more about the WIM and what is at stake under the third review here. 
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Report of the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage and guidance to the Fund

This week negotiations got under way on the 2025 report of the FRLD. These discussions provided an important opportunity to provide guidance to the Fund that can help to ensure that it is filled, responds quickly and that money reaches the most vulnerable communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis.

During the negotiations we heard Parties reactions to the first draft decision text. Core demands and areas of contention revolved around: 1). Whether or not the FRLD needs guidance; 2). Asking the Fund to speed up work on long term policies on small grants and rapid disbursement (amongst others); and; 3). Reminding contributors to pay their pledges into the FRLD’s bank account. Yet perhaps the biggest sticking point was on asking the FRLD to take into account paragraph 16 of the decision made in Dubai on the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG). An important paragraph that speaks to increasing public finance to all climate funds —including the FRLD— and tripling their outward flows by 2030. 

Developing country Parties and Groups were united under the G77 and China on the call to include reference to paragraph 16 of the NCQG. Whilst for the Least Developed Countries, and Alliance of Small Island States ensuring that the FRLD can respond rapidly and ensure direct and simplified access to all developing countries was a top priority. Those looking like they could block progress included the EU, UK, Canada and Australia who were sceptical about the need to provide guidance to the Fund, speeding up work on key policies such as those on rapid disbursement and uncomfortable with the reference to paragraph 16.    

As negotiations continue on the guidance to review next week, we call on Parties and the COP 30 Presidency to ensure an ambitious outcome that speeds up the work of the FRLD on small grants and rapid disbursement and ensures the implementation of paragraph 16 of the NCQG.
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Joint Annual Report of the Executive Committee of the WIM and the Advisory Board of the Santiago Network for Loss and Damage

This week we saw the adoption of the 2024 Joint Annual Report (JAR) and 2025 JAR of the Executive Committee of the WIM and the Advisory Board of the Santiago Network. With the WIM review ongoing, Paties decided to take a very simple procedural decision on the 2025 JAR to ensure that there was enough time to reach a substantial outcome on the WIM review. As a result no guidance is provided to the WIM ExCom or Santiago Network. However, the WIM review provides ample opportunity to strengthen the work of both institutions. 
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Loss and Damage Support is available right now!

One of the strongest messages that we are hearing at COP 30 on Loss and Damage is that support is already available from the FRLD, WIM ExCom and the Santiago Network and that developing countries are strongly encouraged to request it. This message came across loud and clear in three important side events, one convened by the Santiago Network, one by the ExCom of the WIM and the other a joint side event convened by all three Loss and Damage institutions. During these events information was provided on how to make funding requests to the FRLD under the BIM, how to request technical assistance from the Santiago Network and join its membership and how to use the WIM ExCom’s knowledge products. 
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Where are the Loss and Damage pledges?

However, one thing that certainly was not as encouraging was the abysmal amount of Loss and Damage finance pledges made. At the end of week one of COP 30 only two pledges have been made. One from Spain, who has pledged 20 million Euros to the FRLD and one from Switzerland, who has pledged 1 million Swiss Francs to the Santiago Network. Whilst these pledges are very welcome indeed they are a drop in the bucket compared to the scale of the Loss and Damage finance needs of developing countries. Our calculations suggest that at least 724.43 billion USD need to be flowing through the Loss and Damage support landscape each year. Therefore, we call on developed countries to step up and meet their Loss and Damage finance obligations under the UNFCCC and its Paris Agreement, human rights and international law. 
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The ICJAO is Making an Impact at COP 30

With the delivery of the ICJ’s historic Advisory Opinion on the Obligations of States in regards to Climate Change in June it has been clarified that climate action is not optional — it's the law. This includes urgently scaling up support and action on avoiding (through emission reductions), minimising (through adaptation) and addressing loss and damage. That is because the ICJAO reaffirmed that states need to: 1). Prevent climate harm; 2). Co-operate to address loss and damage suffered by people and ecosystems; and; 3). Uphold human rights in their responses to the climate crisis.

COP 30 is the first COP since the delivery of the ICJAO and in the negotiations we have seen commendable leadership from a number of countries on the frontlines of the climate crisis who have pushed to include reference to the ICJAO in negotiating texts. A proposal was drafted in a small huddle which Parties engaged on but the language never made it into the informal note. Despite it being extremely disappointing that the language was not included, the COP is not over! Therefore we call on all states to show their intent to cooperate by aligning, not just the outcome of the WIM review, but all COP 30 decisions with the findings of the ICJ AO.