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Operationalise loss and damage fund says Al Jaber

2 May 2024

Steps must be taken to ensure a fully functioning Loss and Damage Fund, following an agreement at Cop28 to operationalise the fund, according to Cop28 President Sultan Al Jaber.

“While delivering an agreement to operationalise the Fund at Cop28 was a huge breakthrough for climate progress more needs to be done,” Al Jaber said during the first board meeting of the fund on 30 April.

The Loss and Damage Fund, which was first proposed in the 1990s, aims to help developing countries cope with the impact of extreme global warming events such as droughts and floods.

Al Jaber cited the need to build a fully functioning fund, which will be endorsed at Cop29 in Baku, which will be “disbursing funds soon after and a Fund that delivers lasting, positive, socio-economic impact for decades to come."

"While it took over three decades to establish this Fund, climate change has not stood still. Every region of the world is now vulnerable…the impacts of climate change are a clear and present danger to lives and livelihoods everywhere."

Al Jaber’s message resonates closer home given the recent storms hitting the UAE, which brought some emirates to a standstill in mid-April.

Heavy rainfall inundated Dubai and the Northern Emirates on 16 April, causing flooding and significant property and infrastructure damages.

A total of $792m has been pledged for loss and damage funding arrangements – of which $662m has been pledged to the Fund to date – including a $100m contribution each from the UAE and Germany and $75m from the UK.   

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Jennifer Aguinaldo

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