Climate change: how charities are tackling loss and damage

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Loss and damage is a key issue for climate justice in 2023. Following the “breakthrough agreement” at COP27 to provide “loss and damage” funding for vulnerable countries hit hard by climate disasters, work is taking place to ensure that the fund is delivered through “whole scale and wide-ranging reforms”.

At COP27, Ambassador Munir Akram of Pakistan and chair of the G77/China said: “Enhanced solidarity and co-operation to address loss and damage is not charity – it is climate justice.”

Antigua and Barbuda, speaking on behalf of the Alliance of the Small Island States, said, “We will not be silent victims to the cost of pollution created by others, for the profit of the few.”

Delivery of a just loss and damage fund relies upon world leaders, but charities can collaborate with each other and influence powerful decision-makers by representing their beneficiaries on this issue.

In this article, we look at how charities are campaigning around the introduction of the loss and damage fund.

Christian Aid

Christian Aid’s #RiseUpPayUp Campaign has a comprehensive online presence when it comes to loss and damage. Their webpage ‘Loss and Damage: frequently asked questions’ explains the charity’s position on the funding facility.

Their website houses information on how to engage your church or local MP in the campaign.

Their online petition in the lead-up to COP27, which urged governments to agree to a loss and damage fund, garnered over 26,000 signatures.

In addition, the charity’s website presents a series of video testimonies around the issue of loss and damage, giving voice to real people who have experienced climate impacts such as flooding, melting glaciers, and harsher droughts. These videos were made by the International Institute for Environment and Development.

The charity’s campaign launch video further explains their #RiseUpPayUp campaign.

Action Aid

Action Aid is an international charity that helps women and girls living in poverty. It was among many calling for a financing facility to address loss and damage at COP27. They did so supported by their own research into the impacts of climate change upon their beneficiaries.

One report based on their research recommends that the establishment of a loss and damage financing facility is accelerated, and that policies and financing for loss and damage need to be gender-transformative.

At COP27, commitments were made to set up a loss and damage fund. Teresa Anderson, Global Lead on Climate Justice for the charity, said that while this was a “crucial starting point”, there was still much further to go in addressing “the actions of big polluters and the underlying cause of the climate crisis”.

The charity has since called for loss and damage to be prioritised as the Transnational Committee tasked with determining how this fund will operate in practice met for the first time.

Action Aid research published in April 2023 stated that 93% of countries most vulnerable to climate disasters “are either in or at significant risk of debt and distress”.

David Archer, Action Aid’s International Head of Programmes and Influencing, commented: “It’s crucial we spotlight how the World Bank, IMF and private banks based in wealthy countries are preventing climate progress as they continue to enforce strict conditions around debt repayments on climate vulnerable countries at any cost.

“It’s time for the most climate vulnerable countries to have their debt cancelled so we break free of this harmful cycle.”

Oxfam

Based on the findings of Oxfam’s research ‘Hunger in a heating world’ in September 2022, Gabriela Bucher, Oxfam International Executive Director, highlighted the need for a loss and damage facility: “We cannot fix the climate crisis without fixing the systemic inequalities in our food and energy systems. Increasing taxation on super polluters could easily cover the cost…Cancelling debt can also help governments free up resources to invest in climate mitigation.

“Rich and most polluting nations have a moral responsibility to compensate low-income countries most impacted by the climate crisis. This is an ethical obligation, not charity.”

Following the commitment to a loss and damage fund at COP27, Oxfam celebrated but expressed a number of concerns. Bucher summarised: “The climate crisis is about inequality and injustice. Communities at the frontlines of the climate crisis are bearing the heaviest brunt of climate-induced disasters, in addition to multiple crises including conflict, loss of livelihoods, and economic shocks.

“World leaders must push political differences aside and put the needs of these communities first.”

The charity’s international media briefing in April 2023 stated that solutions currently on the table are “inadequate” and lays out a four-step set of solutions for the governments of rich countries in 2023.