As the Facility to Respond to Loss and Damage (FRLD) opens its doors at COP30 later this month with grossly insufficient money to address damage caused by climate change, Pakistan is expected to submit proposals to the tune of $10 million to $20 million to the FRLD board despite reservations.
Three years after it was launched at COP27 in Egypt, the fund has around $300 million in total and pledges of $700 million from countries in the Global North. Designed as a rapid response fund, the fund, with its interim secretariat based at the World Bank, has failed to disburse a single cent to affected countries, said civil society leaders spearheading the “Fill the Fund” campaign.
Climate Minister Musadik Malik also confirmed that Pakistan did not receive a single dollar from the loss and damage fund despite the catastrophic losses it has faced due to global warming.
talking to SunriseMalik said the fund decided to put $250 million to work for its call for proposals at COP30 in Belem and that 50 percent of this amount was exclusive for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
“This means that $100-150 million is set aside for the rest of the world, including Pakistan,” he said, adding that the government was working on some projects in light of this call for proposals.
He said it was too early to share details as these ideas required time to come to fruition, adding that proposals worth up to $20 million were being considered.
The call for proposals came after the FRLD’s seventh board meeting (B7) in Manila last month, in which the board approved interim rules for its operationalization and deferred some key decisions, leaving the fund dependent on insufficient resources.
North-South ideological divergence
Like all other climate negotiations, the meeting was fundamentally defined by an “ideological divergence between the North and the South over the speed and mechanism of financial disbursements.”
One of the key criticisms against the fund is its “slow, bureaucratic design and complex access rules”, which are completely at odds with the need for immediate relief, according to ‘Fill the Fund’ campaigners.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Climate Minister said the hypocrisy of the Global North is disheartening as they are trying to shift their burden to developing economies instead of paying for the damage they caused to the climate during their development.
It’s very strange how these negotiations are going, he said, talking about the bureaucratic procedures that mar climate negotiations.
Speaking about the divergence between North and South, he said the developed world seeks compliance from developing states, while the latter ask for a pool of resources, technology and financing.
“But commitments are not worth the paper they are published on unless they have resources… We say put your money where your mouth is because you have made that money by consuming the climate for hundreds of years,” the minister said.
Musadik noted that the excessive bureaucracy and hypocrisy evident in climate talks defeats the purpose of such a rapid response fund. However, he said, Pakistan will seize every opportunity as its needs are dire.
At the UN climate conference, the country will continue to seek its fair share of climate funds, highlight Western hypocrisy, fight against bureaucracy, and defend the ease of allocation and withdrawal of the loss and damage fund.
