Search

Begin New Search Topic Loss and Damage (L&D)

1. Can the World Bank Deliver on Climate Change? Testing the Evolution Roadmap through Loss and Damage

Author:
Michael Franczak
Publication Date:
04-2024
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute (IPI)
Abstract:
The establishment of a new Loss and Damage Fund and Funding Arrangements at COP27 and the Fund’s operationalization and initial capitalization at COP28 were milestones in the UN climate regime. The World Bank engaged in the Transitional Committee (TC) process as a potential host and trustee for the Fund, a member of a new “High-Level Dialogue,” and a direct provider of loss and damage (L&D) support. The implementation of the Fund and Funding Arrangements—the mosaic—is the first big test of the World Bank’s commitment to evolving its policies, practices, and relationships. This paper discusses the World Bank’s engagement with loss and damage, including the context of broader reforms aiming to modernize the Bank, such as the Bank’s Evolution Roadmap, which identifies three guiding elements for the Bank’s evolution: a new mission and vision, a new playbook, and new resources. One of the key components of the Bank’s evolution is the introduction of climate-resilient debt clauses (CRDCs) or “pause clauses.” Pause clauses feature prominently in recent initiatives to reform the international financial architecture, such as Bridgetown 2.0, the Africa Climate Summit’s Nairobi Declaration, and the Vulnerable Twenty Group’s (V20) Accra-Marrakech Agenda. The paper also discusses the debate over the World Bank’s hosting of the Fund and the set of conditions and safeguards, determined by developing countries, that the Bank would have to meet in order to host the Fund. Finally, the paper discusses priority actions for the High-Level Dialogue, including resource mobilization, institutional protocols, and the losses and damages of the future.
Topic:
Climate Change, World Bank, Loss and Damage (L&D), and Conference of the Parties (COP)
Political Geography:
Global Focus

2. Inclusion of Loss and Damage as a Subgoal in the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG)

Author:
International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD)
Publication Date:
11-2024
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD)
Abstract:
The policy brief demonstrates how incorporating Loss and Damage (L&D) into the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) being discussed currently at COP 29 will address not only the equity gap for developing countries, but also provide a well-rounded and well-defined climate finance landscape. By anchoring L&D as a distinct component within the NCQG, developing countries can secure finances to respond to unavoidable climate impacts and non-economic loss and damage, ensuring a more comprehensive and just response to the climate crisis.
Topic:
Climate Change, Development, Climate Finance, Equity, Loss and Damage (L&D), and Conference of the Parties (COP)
Political Geography:
Global Focus

3. Carbon Inequality Kills: Why curbing the excessive emissions of an elite few can create a sustainable planet for all

Author:
Mira Alestig, Dabi Nafkote, Abha Jeurkar, Alex Maitland, Max Lawson, Daniel Horen Greenford, Corey Lesk, and Ashfaq Khalfan
Publication Date:
10-2024
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
The only way to beat climate breakdown and deliver social justice is to radically reduce inequality. This briefing paper reveals the catastrophic climate impacts of the richest individuals in the world, and proposes taking urgent action to protect people and the planet. What little carbon dioxide we can still safely emit is being burned indiscriminately by the super-rich. We share new evidence of how the yachts, jets and polluting investments of the 50 richest billionaires are accelerating the climate crisis. Oxfam’s research shows that the emissions of the world’s super-rich 1% are causing economic losses of trillions of dollars; contributing to huge crop losses; and leading to millions of excess deaths. As global temperatures continue to rise, risking the lives and livelihoods of people living in poverty and precarity, we must act now to curb the emissions of the super-rich and make rich polluters pay.
Topic:
Climate Finance, Investment, Loss and Damage (L&D), Conference of the Parties (COP), and Billionaires
Political Geography:
Global Focus

4. Unheard Water Stories from Asia, Africa and MENA: Elevating local voices for water security in a climate insecure world

Author:
Nuzhat Nueary
Publication Date:
11-2024
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
This paper shares stories from six countries—Bangladesh, Nepal, Kenya, Somalia, Syria, and Iraq—highlighting the challenges communities face in accessing water. It seeks to bring forward the unique perspectives of communities from diverse backgrounds, each experiencing water crises in distinct ways. While climate change intensifies their crises, many communities also face marginalization due to exclusionary water governance. The impacts are further compounded by factors such as gender, poverty, ethnicity, and race. However, the voices and perspectives of these communities are often overlooked in global climate discussions.The paper aims to highlight these diverse community experiences and advocate for the inclusion of local voices and leadership in climate actions and interventions to ensure fairer access to water. As global climate events like COP-29 unfold, it calls on governments to create inclusive climate policies, integrate water issues into loss and damage discussions, actively involve women and local voices, and urge rich, polluting nations to compensate those most affected by historic and ongoing carbon emissions.
Topic:
Climate Change, Migration, Water, Governance, Climate Finance, Land Rights, Drought, Loss and Damage (L&D), Gender Equality, Water Insecurity, and Salinity
Political Geography:
Bangladesh, Kenya, Africa, Iraq, South Asia, Middle East, Nepal, Syria, and Somalia

5. A climate loss and damage fund that works

Author:
Melanie Pill and Georgia Hammersley
Publication Date:
09-2024
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
The new Fund for responding to Loss and Damage should adopt a clear allocation mechanism based on recipient countries’ vulnerability, emission contributions, and climate change policies. Loss and Damage solutions are unlikely to result in clear financial returns, and the Fund should therefore focus on providing fast and efficient grant-based finance to the most vulnerable countries. Simplified procedures for countries and organisations to access financing and a flexible suite of implementation approaches are key. To raise more financial support, the Fund should explore the potential for engagement with philanthropies and encourage donor countries to adopt voluntary market mechanisms such as levies to raise additional funds.
Topic:
Climate Change, Climate Finance, and Loss and Damage (L&D)
Political Geography:
Global Focus

6. Climate Justice: Loss and damage action research: Case studies of Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe

Author:
Sandra Bhatasara, Helen Jeans, Juliet Suliwa Kasito, Lesley Macheka, and Rosa Mate
Publication Date:
11-2023
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
This study was undertaken to support and empower Southern African leaders, activists, civil society organizations (CSOs) and policymakers, in the lead up to COP 27 and beyond, in the debate on the losses and damages caused by climate impacts. The study used an ‘action research’ approach by supporting the collective and inclusive documentation and sense-making of the lived experiences of loss and damage, and the co-production of a loss and damage narrative, through case studies and participatory workshops with Southern African survivors, communities, activists, civil society and decision-makers.
Topic:
Climate Change, Natural Disasters, Decolonization, Flood, Drought, and Loss and Damage (L&D)
Political Geography:
Africa, Mozambique, and Malawi

7. Gendered Dimensions of Loss and Damage in Asia

Author:
Nidhi Tewari, Alex Bush, Myrah Butt, Elizabeth Stevens, and Sarah Zafar
Publication Date:
12-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Setting up a fund for loss and damage is one of the achievements of COP28, the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference. However, ambiguity remains regarding its functions and set-up. This briefing paper emphasizes the importance of understanding the gendered dimensions of both economic and non-economic losses and damages in Asia. It draws from case studies in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, the Philippines and Timor-Leste to advocate for an intersectional feminist approach to be embedded in the establishment of the Loss and Damage Fund.
Topic:
Climate Change, Feminism, Intersectionality, Flood, Loss and Damage (L&D), Conference of the Parties (COP), and Care work
Political Geography:
Asia

8. Addressing Loss and Damage through the Mosaic: A Simulation from the Delta Republic

Author:
Michael Franczak and Michael Weisberg
Publication Date:
10-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Peace Institute (IPI)
Abstract:
The 2023 UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) takes place amid change and contestation in the global political economy. High prices for food and fuel are still a problem, particularly for countries that are net importers of both. Sovereign debt also remains a challenge due to rising borrowing costs and inaction from major creditors. Meanwhile, the adverse impacts of climate change are rising in scale and intensity and falling disproportionately on the countries least equipped to address them. In this context, parties to the 2022 Climate Change Conference (COP27) agreed to establish new funding arrangements for addressing loss and damage, including a new Loss and Damage Fund (LDF). The proposal for a fund and funding arrangements coordinated by a Loss and Damage Impact Council presents an opportunity to assemble the mosaic of solutions imagined at COP27. The problem is that we still lack a clear and shared picture of what it means to fully address loss and damage: what needs doing, who needs to do it, and how and when it needs to be done. This paper is an attempt to imagine a well-functioning and coordinated system—a mosaic—with functions, institutions, and results that deliver stability in the face of adverse climate change impacts. First, the paper presents the scenario of the fictional Delta Republic, which is suffering a slow-onset crisis compounded by repeated extreme events. It then identifies elements of an ambitious but practical response from the system we have, including actions, modalities, actors, and timing. The paper identifies gaps in the response and obstacles to the actions envisaged in the scenario, including but not limited to finance and financial arrangements. In its conclusion, the paper uses insights gained through the scenario to propose: (1) the purpose of the funding arrangements for extreme and slow-onset events, (2) an initial list of members for a Loss and Damage Impact Council, and (3) potential actions and interventions for the Loss and Damage Fund. Finally, the paper emphasizes the critical nature of a country- or demand-driven approach to the support provided by the LDF, including the use of accredited entities for implementation.
Topic:
Climate Change, Political Economy, Simulation, Loss and Damage (L&D), and Conference of the Parties (COP)
Political Geography:
Global Focus

9. Strengthening Loss and Damage Narrative: Building cohesive voices with policymakers and civil society in Bangladesh

Author:
International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD)
Publication Date:
12-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD)
Abstract:
Bangladesh has been striving for years to shift its narrative from being climate vulnerability to resilience. Over the years, it has managed to build itself as one of the climate-resilient countries, despite the geographical vulnerability, through building efficient early warning systems, community-led disaster management, and women’s leadership in resilience efforts. However, communities in Bangladesh continue to face existential crisis due to increasing climate variability and exacerbating extreme events – both rapid and slow onset, leading to losses and damages for vulnerable countries and communities. The increasing frequency and intensity of climate change impacts – both economic and non-economic – makes it necessary to place loss and damage at the center of climate discourse. The topic of loss and damage gained significant momentum at the global stage following the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt. Prior to COP27, there was a noticeable reluctance to acknowledge the concept of Loss & Damage, particularly in relation to providing compensation to countries in the global south. However, emerging evidence about the inevitability of loss and damage has cemented the fact that international monetary support will be needed for developing countries to address loss and damage, with the climate finance structure lacking a dedicated funding stream for addressing loss and damage, as previously highlighted.
Topic:
Civil Society, Climate Change, United Nations, Resilience, and Loss and Damage (L&D)
Political Geography:
Bangladesh and South Asia

10. Accounting for Non Economic Loss & Damage changes perspective of L&D as a whole

Author:
International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD)
Publication Date:
11-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD)
Abstract:
Adverse impacts induced by climate change is already occurring and manifesting in the form of losses and damages which are expected to accelerate as climate change worsens and tipping points in eccological systems are reached. Failure to address climate-driven loss can trap populations in a state of vulnerability. Such kinds of losses and damages can be either economic or non-economic in nature. Economic losses and damages can be measured using market prices. In contrast, non-economic loss and damage (or ‘NELD’) refers to a broad range of harmful impacts that are not so easily quantified, especially in financial terms. This makes it difficult to evaluate the non economic nature and the intensity of the losses and damages faced by frontline communities.
Topic:
Climate Change, Economics, Vulnerability, and Loss and Damage (L&D)
Political Geography:
Global Focus