By Robert Andre Emmanuel
While most developing states like Antigua and Barbuda have swiftly nominated personnel to sit on the new Loss and Damage (L&D) board, developed nations have severely lagged behind in selecting theirs, potentially shortening the amount of time board members will have to negotiate on critical issues related to the fund before COP29 in November.
Embedded into the agreement approved by UN member states at the start of COP28 last year was the consensus that the UN’s climate change secretariat convene the first meeting of the board of the Fund “once all voting member nominations have been submitted, but no later than 31 January 2024.”
Following nearly three decades of lobbying, with wealthier nations being reluctant to accept even symbolically admitting liability for the effects of climate change, on account of their greenhouse gas emissions, the last two years had been a turning point on the issue.
Nevertheless, the January deadline has passed without any person from a developed country nominated to sit on the board.
The L&D Board is expected to be made up of 26 members—12 members designated for developed countries, 3 members respectively designated for Asian-Pacific, African and Latin American and Caribbean states, 2 members designated respectively for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and the least developed (LDCs) countries, and a member from any other developing nations not included in the mentioned groups.
Antigua and Barbuda, in December, nominated Peter Abraham Jr to sit on the board which was approved by the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) to be part of the SIDS grouping.
Observer media spoke to experts on the issue to explain why a delay in the convening of the board matters for SIDS like Antigua and Barbuda.
Julie-Anne Richards is an independent consultant on loss and damage, having worked in climate finance for over a decade.
Liane Schalatek is the Associate Director, Heinrich Böll Foundation, green policy think tank in Washington DC, and has worked on climate change including climate finance, and has helped to shape the Green Climate Fund (GCF).
What was the importance of this January 31 deadline for the Loss and Damage Fund Board?
Antigua and Barbuda’s experience with Hurricane Irma in 2017 was more than just a tale of a horrible natural disaster ripping through the sister isle on a devastating scale, causing mass displacement among Barbudans. It highlighted the challenges in recovering from a disaster that mitigation and adaptation could not cover.
“Developing countries and communities on the frontline of climate impacts need the Loss and Damage Fund set-up urgently – they are already facing the climate extremes of worse storms, flooding, droughts, heatwaves, and sea level rising,” noted Richards via email.
To this day, Barbudans continue to recover from the hurricane impact which has required major financing operations from the government and charitable foundations.
“The people on the ground largely have to pay for their own recovery, which is wholly unfair when they did very little to cause climate change.
“It’s for this reason that we urgently need the Loss and Damage Fund.
“To do that, the board needs to be elected and start meeting to finalise all of the details required,” Richards added.
What is the work that the L&D Board needs to sort-out before COP29 in Azerbaijan later this year?
According to Climate Home News which originally published an article about the deadline, the board needs to be formed so that it can agree on “the terms and conditions on which the World Bank will host the fund.”
According to the UN policy document which operationalised the Fund and its Board, board members also need to elect its two co-chairs, one from a developed country and the other from a developing country.
With this delay in having a full complement of board members, the window to discuss the work plan set for board members and their advisory and draft a text in time for COP29 becomes shorter.
“The Board has to decide how to fairly allocate the money it will raise – allocating a portion to SIDS and LDCs, ensuring regional balance in funding, and allocating the money across extreme events. It also has to allocate enough money to deal with slow onset events, such as sea level rise or desertification.
“The Board also has to appoint a dedicated Secretariat and Executive Director and establish processes for countries to access the Fund,” Richards wrote.
Meanwhile, both Richards and Schalatek highlighted that the board will need to work out a fundraising plan as they said the funds pledged at this stage—believed to be around US$770 million, can only get the fund in operation, but cannot be reasonably be expected to cover the level of financing needed to help climate vulnerable nations recover from extreme natural disasters, which have been calculated to cost several billions each year.
“To get all of those various tasks that technically need to be accomplished in the course of the first year, because certain mandates have deadlines, and some framework-setting needs to be done by the next COP [in Azerbaijan]… there was some hope that you could have up to four board meetings.
“But if your first [meeting] is in April, it is going to be much harder because you are going to need time in-between to inter-sessional work, to prepare policy documents and frameworks, it is going to be much, much harder to squeeze all of that in what is essentially a few months’ time,” Liane Schalatek said during our conversation.
What are some of the reasons why developed nations have not been able to nominate any member to serve on the Loss and Damage Fund?
Among the reasons which many have attributed to the delay were debates among the developed states over “fair burden-sharing” with “European countries likely insisting on a proportionate representation according to their contributions so far, and the future willingness to support” as Schalatek told our newsroom.
The board was set-up so that members nominated to the board will also have an alternative member who participates in meetings of the Board through the principal member, without the right to vote.
For example, Seychelles is Antigua and Barbuda’s alternative member for the SIDs grouping.
Only if the principal member is absent from the meeting, in whole or part, does the alternate member then act in that member’s place on the Board.
Among the top contributors to the Loss and Damage Fund were last year’s COP hosts, the United Arab Emirates with US$100 million, and the EU Commission and individual European states with around US$450 million pledged in total.
“If you look at the Green Climate Fund, the developed countries’ constituency reflect the scale of contributions by developed countries (this has been the practice and agreement within the developed countries since the initial resource mobilisation efforts).
“This is the reason why the US, Germany, France, UK, Japan, Norway, and Sweden as the biggest contributors all have a main board seat as well as an alternate seat.
“So, if you look at the fact that the US has so far committed only US$17.5 million, and Japan only 10 million, they should probably not get similarly a “double-seat” in the developed country group,” Schalatek speculated in the email correspondence.
“I am sure that Japan and the US will have a seat, but the question is: Will they, like in the Green Climate Fund, claim a full board seat and an alternate, like for the importance of the country.
“Or will they, because a lot of European countries have already given more than either one of those countries, only get an alternate seat or get a seat but will have to share the seat with somebody else,” she expounded further.
Last year, negotiations over the Loss and Damage Fund continued leading into a few days before the COP conference, as the US pushed for other countries to agree that the Fund be hosted by the World Bank. That was a US condition for it to pledge into the Fund.
What are developing states like Antigua and Barbuda to do in the meantime, while they await the developed nations come to an agreement on the nomination of board members?
Observer media spoke to Peter Abraham Jr, Antigua and Barbuda’s representative on the Loss and Damage Board on this issue, who indicated that the work continues to be the effort to get the fund established.
Abraham Jr, an accomplished economist at the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank for several years, said that while members are still awaiting to understand the work schedule for the Loss and Damage Fund Board, members have already been engaged with the UN climate change secretariat.
“What I can say is that we had a meeting yesterday [Thursday] with the interim secretariat to get an update, so they’re now putting together information which will be circulated to us board members, but we anticipate that the first meeting will probably be some time in April,” he replied.
Despite working primarily as an economist, Abraham Jr noted that he has engaged in dialogue with counterparts on the board in the past as it relates to the climate finance agreement, working on the issue on behalf of AOSIS (Alliance of Small Island States).
“So, [one of the other members] Daniel Lund from Fiji, I have met him, and we have worked together on the transitional committee that would’ve established last year, so we both would have been advisors on that committee,” he noted.
The economist said that his practical experience, both in the financial sector and as a person from the Caribbean will bring unique insights to the board as it prepares to develop a framework for financial aid to vulnerable developing countries.
“So, I have done loss and damage assessments in Anguilla, Dominica, and St Martin while working for the Central Bank, so I do understand it from the other standpoint, so it’s now about putting that together to ensure that this fund works for the people of the region, and especially SIDS,” Abraham Jr said.
