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Frontline communities face longer wait for climate funds
🇵🇰 Pakistan /Environment & Climate

Frontline communities face longer wait for climate funds

From Dawn · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • The Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) board deferred funding decisions until December 2026 due to a large number of proposals and limited resources.
  • The fund received 176 requests from 119 countries totaling $2.8 billion, far exceeding the $250 million allocated for disbursement.
  • Civil society groups expressed concern over a lack of transparency and bureaucratic delays, arguing the fund is failing vulnerable communities.

Countries vulnerable to climate change will face a longer wait for funds from the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) after its board postponed funding decisions until December 2026. The delay stems from an overwhelming number of funding proposals and limited financial resources.

The FRLD Board's ninth meeting, held in Manila from July 8 to 10, concluded without significant progress. This outcome drew criticism from civil society groups, who argue the fund is not adequately supporting communities increasingly exposed to climate-related disasters. The FRLD was established at COP27 in Egypt in 2022 and became fully operational after COP29 in Azerbaijan.

Launched at COP30 in Brazil, the fund's first call for proposals attracted 176 requests from 119 developing countries, seeking a total of $2.8 billion. This demand significantly outstrips the $250 million allocated for initial disbursement. The average request per proposal is approximately $15.9 million, with individual requests ranging from $5 million to $20 million.

The board, he said, was “hesitant to give away such an amount of money without looking at the full basket of proposals”.

— Harjeet SinghA civil society activist and Fill the Fund campaign member, commenting on the FRLD board's decision.

At the Manila meeting, the board was expected to review proposals from Haiti, Jamaica, Nigeria, and Ivory Coast. However, the review process for the vast majority of the 176 submissions is incomplete. Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, Pakistan's representative on the FRLD Board, noted that nearly 100 requests were received on the June 15 submission deadline alone. The board aims to assess about two-thirds of the proposals by December before commencing disbursements.

Civil society activist Harjeet Singh expressed concern that the board is hesitant to disburse funds without reviewing all proposals. Sources familiar with the matter indicated that the board initially intended to approve four key proposals to expedite procedures, but the deferral affects this plan. It is anticipated that around a dozen funding requests might be approved at the 10th board meeting, especially if an additional $100 million is added to the funding pool. These projects will be implemented under the two-year pilot phase, known as the Barbados Implementation Mechanism (BIM).

June 15 was the deadline for submissions, and on that day alone the board received almost 100 requests

— Ali Tauqeer SheikhPakistan’s representative on the FRLD Board, explaining the volume of submissions.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Dawn in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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