The operationalisation of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) was regarded as one of the biggest achievements of COP28 in Dubai in 2023.
Only a year after it was first proposed at COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, Governments pledged almost USD $702 million to help developing nations recover from and build resilience to climate change impacts, whether extreme weather events or slow onset impacts such as sea level rise.
At COP29 in Baku Azerbaijan this week, Sweden has pledged a further USD $19 million to the Fund, bringing the total pledged funding to just over USD $720 million. The signing of the Trustee Agreement and the Secretariat Hosting Agreement between the Board of the Fund and the World Bank, as well as the Host Country Agreement between Board and the host country, Philippines, also took place this week. Following that, the Fund is now ready to accept contributions with the financing of projects potentially in 2025.
As we approach the end of the first week of COP29, we catch up with His Excellency, Ambassador Amenatave V. Yauvoli, of Fiji, who has been following Loss and Damage, and leading the Pacific’s push on this critical thematic priority.
Question: When it comes to Loss and Damage at COP29, what is the Pacific asking for?
Answer: The Pacific is seeking a fund that can directly address the concerns and the challenges our communities are facing with regards to losses and damage caused by climate change. We are looking at a number of issues. The Pacific is at the forefront of climate change impacts, with extreme natural disasters increasing in frequency and magnitude every year. We need this Fund to help our Pacific communities address the critical issue of loss and damage in particular non-economic loss and damage they continue to face.
Question: How are the COP29 negotiations on climate finance going? Any progress?
Answer: Looking at what’s happening now, I think this Fund is going to be bigger than Green Climate Fund, and it will be more accessible for our communities. There is a lot of work to be done by the Board, given their mandate, but for me I am confident that this Fund will be the go-to-fund for our people.
The biggest challenge, and the main source of complaints for Pacific countries when it comes to climate finance, is access. But we hope that this Fund will alleviate those concerns. In Dubai last year at COP28, USD 700 billion was pledged, those pledges need to be converted to real cash, and if we are to access this Fund, we should be on the front line to try and make the process work for us. There has been progress made, in the finance item agenda 8e, which is an item that belongs to both COP and CMA. This is the first item that has been successfully concluded under my co-chairmanship with my colleague from the European Union. This afternoon, I’m happy to say that there has been progress made and I am confident that we will walk away from COP29 with a positive outcome.
Question: What can we expect in the coming days? What’s your gut feeling?
Answer: The COP29 Presidency has been reminding us that this is a finance COP, and you will see that under the agenda item on finance, there are about 19 items. Two agenda items have been achieved this afternoon and we still have 17 more to go and we will continue to work away on these items to ensure its success, in terms of provision of finance by developing countries to address the scourge of climate change on our people and rural communities.
I want to thank all our Pacific delegations who are here and have been engaging in the process. We all have one goal and that is to ensure the survival of our communities, and we really need this Fund. While USD 700 million has been pledged, it’s not enough, we need at least USD 700 billion to cover the costs now, and to make up for all these other years of inaction.
ENDS