India’s place in the meandering life of the ‘Loss and Damage’ fund

The travel towards recognising and addressing the disproportionate impacts of clime alteration connected susceptible countries has been agelong and fraught with resistance. In 1991, Vanuatu, representing the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), archetypal projected the instauration of an planetary clime money to enactment nations astir threatened by rising oversea levels. However, entrenched absorption from economically developed countries reluctant to presume fiscal work for humanities emissions has delayed meaningful advancement for decades.

Likewise, portion the constitution of the United Nations Framework Convention connected Climate Change (UNFCCC) successful 1992 laid the groundwork for planetary cooperation, it was not until 2007 that the conception of “loss and damage” formally entered the planetary clime discourse. Subsequent milestones — including the Warsaw International Mechanism successful 2013 and the Paris Agreement successful 2015 — precocious the speech but fell abbreviated connected finance.

Only successful 2022 was the archetypal ‘Loss and Damage’ money yet established astatine the COP27 clime talks, a breakthrough spurred by clime disasters including catastrophic floods successful Pakistan that claimed thousands of lives and near the country’s system successful tatters.

India’s relation successful this long-winded and still-evolving communicative is peculiarly analyzable fixed its dual individuality arsenic a climate-vulnerable federation and an emerging economical power. This section explores the humanities improvement of the ‘Loss and Damage’ fund, India’s stance, and the wider governmental arena successful which clime concern is taking signifier today.

The genesis of the fund

On June 4, 1991, Vanuatu, a tiny land state successful Oceania, submitted a connection connected behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) outlining the elements of a ‘Framework Convention connected Climate Change’. This was 1 of the world’s archetypal proposals to acceptable up an planetary clime money to assistance susceptible countries against the effects of clime change, particularly since AOSIS realised the request to safeguard their onshore against the menace of rising seas.

But economically developed countries did not judge the connection and advancement connected the substance remained dilatory connected the backmost of their reluctance to carnivore fiscal work for humanities emissions.

However, the UNFCCC was established successful 1992 to foster planetary practice successful addressing and ameliorating the consequences of clime change. The speech astir a money to assistance economically processing countries instrumentality connected the disproportionate effects of clime alteration they were incurring gained momentum successful the aboriginal 2000s, adjacent if it was not until 2007 for “Loss and Damage” to formally look successful an planetary clime plan.

In that year, astatine the 13th league of the Conference of Parties (COP13) of the UNFCCC successful Bali, Indonesia, subordinate states agreed to see nonaccomplishment and harm successful processing countries that were “particularly vulnerable” to clime alteration effects. In 2010, a enactment programme connected nonaccomplishment and harm was established astatine the COP16 talks held astatine Cancun, Mexico.

The existent milestone, however, came successful 2013: erstwhile astatine the COP19 talks successful Warsaw, Poland, subordinate states established the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage associated with Climate Change Impacts (shortened arsenic WIM) to code the devastating effects of clime change, including utmost events and slow-onset events, successful processing countries. The adjacent landmark connected this travel was the Paris Agreement successful 2015, albeit a antagonistic landmark. Even though the Agreement recognised addressing nonaccomplishment and harm caused owed to the clime crisis, concern was inactive not a portion of the outcome.

The satellite took an existent measurement towards financially compensating peculiarly susceptible countries successful 2022 astatine the COP27 talks held astatine Sharm el-Sheikh successful Egypt. The first-ever ‘Loss and Damage’ money was established here, with wealth from the funds vouchsafed for compensating susceptible countries against disasters instigated oregon exacerbated by clime change. Countries present besides decided that a transitional committee would urge the management, contributions to, and different details of the fund.

Once this committee had met 5 times, it decided that the World Bank would big the money for 4 years and that it would beryllium overseen by an autarkic secretariat. The subordinate states of the UNFCCC agreed to operationalise the money astatine the COP28 talks held successful the United Arab Emirates successful 2023, and pledged $800 cardinal to its corpus.

The value of COP27 was besides that it occurred soon aft wide floods successful Pakistan, causing harm to the tune of billions of dollars. Attribution probe rapidly revealed that the floods had been made truthful deadly by clime alteration and that Pakistan had borne the brunt of c emissions that economically developed countries had released arsenic they archetypal industrialised. In the run-up to COP27, the devastation reminded galore countries that clime alteration is simply a transboundary occupation and spurred them to prosecute much intimately with the contented of nonaccomplishment and damage.

At the past UNFCCC conference, the COP29 held successful Baku successful Azerbaijan successful 2024, the ‘Loss and Damage’ money was astatine agelong past operationalised.

India’s position

India’s clime enactment commitments astatine multilateral fora person typically been a tightrope locomotion arsenic its representatives effort to propulsion disconnected wearing 2 identities astatine once: a state disproportionately susceptible to the effects of clime alteration and a state ranking among the world’s apical economical powers. (According to the Global Climate Risk Index released by Germanwatch successful 2025, India ranked sixth successful countries astir affected by clime alteration betwixt 1993 and 2022. Various studies person recognised that utmost upwind events similar floods, vigor waves, cyclones, and droughts are becoming much common.)

To this end, astatine the COP26 talks held successful Glasgow, Scotland, successful 2021, India focused on the rule of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC) — 1 of the foundational principles of the UNFCCC — with the thought that clime backing should heighten processing countries’ capableness to header with the earthy disasters exacerbated by clime change. India besides contended that its humanities cumulative emissions and per capita emissions were “very low” contempt being location to much than 17% of the world’s population.

(Indeed, the state is presently the 3rd largest emitter of greenhouse gases successful the world, but its per capita emissions are 1.776 tCO2/capita (2022) — overmuch little than the planetary average, which was 4.3 tCO2/capita successful 2022.)

India engaged actively with the request for a ‘Loss and Damage’ money astatine the COP27 talks held successful Egypt successful 2022, wherever it besides raked up CBDR-RC erstwhile again. “You are presiding implicit a historical COP wherever statement has been secured for nonaccomplishment and harm backing arrangements including mounting up a nonaccomplishment and harm fund,” Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said astatine the clime league portion addressing the Egyptian presidency. “The satellite has waited acold excessively agelong for this. We congratulate you connected your untiring efforts to germinate consensus.”

The Indian authorities has besides maintained that the astir copious emitters of greenhouse gases done quality past should besides instrumentality the pb successful shoring up the fiscal assistance disposable to much susceptible countries.

India is portion of the G77 bloc of processing countries, and besides astatine COP27, the G77 positive China radical called for caller backing arrangements to enactment processing countries. And astatine the ministerial gathering of G77 positive China held successful New York successful September 2024, the members asked for the ‘Loss and Damage’ money to beryllium the “centrepiece of the caller nonaccomplishment and harm backing arrangements”.

Importantly, India has been astatine the forefront of demands that the ‘Loss and Damage’ money should beryllium supra and beyond different clime concern commitments. An illustration of the second is the New Collective Quantified Goal, which is the wealth that developed countries are to springiness processing countries to assistance them conscionable their goals to modulation distant from the continued usage of fossil fuels and curb greenhouse-gas emissions.

The larger governmental picture

India is portion of aggregate blocs and its perspectives connected nonaccomplishment and harm are influenced by its comparative lasting successful them. Perhaps the bloc that astir intimately mirrors its basal is the BRICS, which has different besides positioned itself arsenic a champion of emerging economies worldwide and has expressed enactment for the ‘Loss and Damage’ fund. A associated connection issued by BRICS countries’ overseas ministers connected June 10, 2024, said: “The Ministers welcomed the instauration of the nonaccomplishment and harm money nether the UNFCCC successful COP27 successful Sharm el-Sheikh and its operationalisation successful the UAE astatine COP28 and confirmed its important relation successful supporting each processing countries successful responding to the losses and damages of clime impacts.” 

At the 3rd Voice of Global South Summit hosted by India successful August 2024, it highlighted economically processing countries’ request for much and amended clime concern and the value of urgently improving the resilience of these countries — but particularly Small Island Developing States — against the effects of clime change

Finally, India is presently besides an alternate committee subordinate of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage for those “developing countries not included successful the determination groups and constituencies” segment.

All this said, galore experts person expressed content that India’s engagement with nonaccomplishment and harm has fallen abbreviated of expectations. India is simply a increasing economy, a subordinate of the G20 bloc, and has been hoping to unafraid a spot successful the UN Security Council. These are immoderate geopolitical aspirations that person led to the country’s debased engagement with the demands for nonaccomplishment and damage, contempt being highly susceptible to clime change. 

Future of the fund

In April 2025, the Board of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage launched the Barbados Implementation Modalities (BIM), a planetary enactment program to supply fiscal assistance to countries particularly susceptible to the effects of clime change. The gathering was held successful Bridgetown, Barbados, from April 8 to 10. Barbados itself is simply a tiny land processing authorities (SIDS).

This is the start-up signifier of the mechanism: nether BIM, susceptible countries are acceptable to person $250 cardinal until the extremity of 2026 wholly successful the signifier of grants. Meanwhile, the money volition besides research however it tin prosecute the backstage sector. Each involution nether BIM volition magnitude to betwixt $5 cardinal and $20 million. A 50% minimum allocation level nether BIM volition beryllium reserved for SIDS and the slightest developed countries (LDCs).

However, a presumption of resources study published by the UNFCCC connected April 7 — close earlier the gathering successful Barbados — revealed that adjacent though the world’s countries had pledged $768 cardinal to the ‘Loss and Damage’ fund, lone $319 cardinal had been made disposable frankincense acold and that funds to the tune of $388 cardinal are expected to get by December 31, 2025.

The occupation is that this is nowhere adjacent to the magnitude susceptible countries person estimated they need. According to a survey conducted by the Loss and Damage Collaboration and the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Washington, D.C., and published successful 2023, nonaccomplishment and harm concern should person $400 cardinal a twelvemonth to enactment with astatine a minimum. The spread is an full bid of magnitude.

Ahead of the COP29 talks successful Baku successful November 2024, representatives of the LDCs adopted the 2024 Lilongwe Declaration connected Climate Change successful Malawi. Under this declaration, they demanded that nonaccomplishment and harm and mitigation efforts beryllium addressed done caller and further clime finance. The declaration estimated the fiscal needs of economically processing countries to beryllium astir $5.8-5.9 trillion by 2030 and that LDCs volition request astir $1 trillion to instrumentality their existent NDCs.

Priyali Prakash is main unit writer, The Hindu.