Loss and damage

Many countries are already experiencing climate-related loss and damage, from the devastation caused by floods and wildfires, to migratory pressures resulting from slow onset events like sea level rise.

Vulnerable counties least responsible for causing climate change have long called for finance and other support in dealing with these impacts. These demands were formally recognised in 2022 under the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement, with the establishment of a loss and damage fund.

Our work in this area focuses on:

addressing information gaps in areas such as extreme weather events, slow onset events, and economic and non-economic losses
thought leadership, research and analysis on approaches to address loss and damage
support integrating loss and damage considerations into national planning
developing regional-specific approaches for assessing and reporting on loss and damage
supporting work to design and implement the loss and damage fund and funding arrangements

Our experts

Dr Olivia Serdeczny

Research Analyst

Sneha Pandey

Climate Diplomacy and Policy Analyst

Sasha Jattansingh

Loss and Damage Expert

Publications

Calculating the loss and damage finance gap: a scoping and feasibility exercise

Economic and non-economic loss and damage: a harmful dichotomy?

How can event attribution science underpin financial decisions on Loss and Damage?

Using existing databases to report on loss and damage in Biennial Transparency Reports under the UNFCCC

A review of loss and damage in the Caribbean (1994 to 2024)

The impacts of multiple tropical cyclone events and associated precipitation on household income and expenditures

The 1.5°C limit and risks of overshoot

Le seuil de +1,5°C et le risque de dépassement de ce seuil

Climate justice: loss and damage and the right to development

Climate justice and loss and damage: perspectives from the global south

Carbon majors’ trillion dollar damages

Coastal loss and damage for small islands

The effects of political knowledge use by developing country negotiators in Loss and Damage negotiations

Risks of synchronised low yields are underestimated in climate and crop model projections

Research agenda for the loss and damage fund

Houses built on the mountains just outside of Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Climate justice and loss and damage: Hurricane Dorian, Haitians and human rights

Projects

What happens when you don’t, or can’t, migrate?

When climate impacts hit, there are those who don’t, or can’t, leave. The Immobility in a changing climate (ITHACA) project looks at the choices and constraints that lead to people’s immobility in the face of climate change, and what ramifications that has for their lives.

How do socioeconomic barriers inform limits to adaptation?

The EmBARK project investigates possible trajectories of socio-economic transformation processes and analyse their relevance as potential barriers to adaptation to climate change.

Climate risk, adaptation and insurance in the Caribbean

The Climate Risk Adaptation and Insurance in the Caribbean (CRAIC) project, led by Munich Climate Insurance Initiative, assists Caribbean countries in their efforts to increase social resilience and adapt to climate change by incorporating climate risk insurance within a broader framework of disaster risk reduction strategies.

Understanding the climate impacts associated with temporarily overshooting 1.5°C

This project is working to develop the science around what the climate impacts of temporarily overshooting 1.5°C would mean for our climate.

Risks of water and food insecurity in the Horn of Africa Drylands

The Horizon Europe funded project, Down2Earth, looks at future risks from water scarcity and food insecurity in vulnerable countries in the Horn of Africa Drylands and supports community-centered climate adaptation and resilience.

Science-based national adaptation planning in Sub-Saharan Africa

This project provides francophone Least Developed Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa with science-based support when formulating their National Adaptation Plans (NAPs). In addition, it will give these countries access to international climate finance and establish national, international and regional platforms to share knowledge and experiences.

Assessing the differences in climate impacts between 1.5°C and 2°C

The project ‘Half a degree Additional warming, Prognosis and Projected Impacts’ (HAPPI) aims at assessing the difference in climate impacts between 1.5°C and 2°C using targeted multi-ensemble simulations. The simulations are designed to allow for robust assessment of changing risks in extreme weather events.

Turn down the heat report series

From 2012 to 2014 we authored a series of reports for the World Bank looking at the impacts of climate change in a 4°C world with an emphasis on the impacts for the most vulnerable.

Climate vulnerability monitor

The Climate Vulnerability Monitor, funded by the UN and spearheaded by the Climate Vulnerability Forum, aims to develop a global report and tool exploring climate change impacts, with a particular focus on the world’s most vulnerable countries. Climate Analytics leads the science consortium for this project.

IMPACT

IMPACT is a cross-cutting, multi-faceted project that aims to strengthen the connections between the scientific assessments of climate impacts, vulnerability and adaptation to help enable access to finance and help Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) implement concrete projects.

High-Level support for LDCs and SIDS on climate change

The HLSM High-Level Support Mechanism for LDC and SIDS on Climate Change project creates a support mechanism for high-level political representatives and their advisors from LDCs and SIDS that is demand-driven, responsive to ongoing needs and firmly rooted in the respective regions.

SURVIVE

SURVIVE, a joint project between Climate Analytics and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) supports Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in the international climate change negotiations.

PREVENT

PREVENT is built around a team of experienced climate scientists and analysts, whose objective is to provide science, policy, strategic and analytical support for delegations of the Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States.

The loss and damage fund must be accessible to those it was set up to serve – the most vulnerable to climate change

The board of the 'Fund for responding to Loss and Damage' has diverging views on accessibility. We look at lessons from similar funds and options currently on the table.

Why the Caribbean is bracing for what could be the worst hurricane season on record

Unprecedented sea surface temperatures in June have already fuelled a hurricane that has flattened communities in the Caribbean - the earliest of its kind. With forecasts warning of more to come, our experts get into the numbers of why this years' season could be the worst on record.

Delay tactics at IPCC-61 could put science inputs to the UNFCCC at risk

The latest Plenary of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has just concluded in Sofia, Bulgaria. Despite days of deliberation, delegates were not able to agree on delivering the next round of reports in time for the second global stocktake, despite a request to do so from governments in the first global stocktake outcome agreed in Dubai last year.

How countries can report loss and damage finance needs

Drawing lessons from the Caribbean, we take a look at where, how and why to report on loss and damage finance needs, the types of costs that can be reported and what makes an event ‘climate-related'.

How Africa can be better represented in the next cycle of IPCC reports and why it matters

Despite its climate vulnerabilities, Africa was highly underrepresented in the last IPCC cycle. As governments start planning the IPCC’s seventh assessment cycle, more funding and support for African climate science – and scientists – could help address this and result in more equitable climate policies.

The IPCC set to respond to growing demand for climate science to inform policy

Last week in Istanbul, climate scientists and governments met in the sixtieth session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to agree a plan for its seventh, and potentially most consequential report cycle. The outcome means the IPCC will most probably take a more streamlined approach to its seventh cycle.

Safeguards and exit points for the World Bank as host of the Loss and Damage Fund

An agreement was reached to establish the World Bank as the interim host of the Loss and Damage Fund. Developing countries signed up to this on certain conditions. We unpack the safeguards put in place and look at the three points at which the Fund could exit the World Bank.

Drone’s view the day after a typhoon in Malapascua Island Philippines

Loss and damage: two options in play for fund’s makeup

There are currently two options on the table for the loss and damage fund’s structure – ‘programmatic’ and ‘responsive’. We reflect on the pros and cons of each.

Flooding during a heavy monsoon in the Philippines in July 2021

Second Glasgow Dialogue: lessons from latest Committee meeting on loss and damage finance

Key takeaways from the Transitional Committee’s second meeting on operationalising the new loss and damage fund and funding arrangements.

Tropical storm damage in the Indian Ocean

Four things to know from the first workshop on the loss and damage fund

The Transitional Committee held its first workshop on how to set up the new loss and damage fund — here’s our take on the key funding gaps and solutions that emerged at the meeting.

2023 will shape the Loss and Damage fund for years to come – have your say now

Final decisions on a new Loss and Damage fund to help vulnerable countries recover from climate impacts will be made at COP28 in December. Here’s what you need to know about how the fund will be designed over the coming year.

Flooding in Pakistan: where vulnerability meets climate change, devastation can follow

In the wake of the massive flooding in Pakistan, Fahad Saeed and Manjeet Dhakal explain how socioeconomic factors intersect with climate impacts in South Asia, compounding their effects on people and the environment. Based on the latest evidence from the IPCC, they break down what risks could emerge in the coming decades if warming is not limited to the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C threshold.

Pakistan's floods must be a wake up call on climate action ahead of Sharm El-Sheikh

Dr Fahad Saeed is a climate impacts scientist based in Islamabad. He writes on how climate impacts are exacerbating power and development issues, despite Pakistan’s negligible emissions, and how the floods could reframe the debate on Loss and Damage ahead of COP27 in Egypt this year.

West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. Stijn Dijkstra, Pexels

What does the IPCC say on losses and damages?

A robust assessment of losses and damages was featured in the recent IPCC Working Group II report, representing a major step forward in recognising existing negative impacts and future risks of climate change. The assessment provides strong support for increased action and support for loss and damage, urgent mitigation to limit global warming to 1.5°C, and more extensive adaptation.

COP26. UNCCC 2021. Flickr/UNclimatechange

Facing the facts – the need for loss and damage finance can no longer be denied

This article takes stock of the Loss and Damage negotiations at COP26, concluding that the need for developed countries to provide Loss and Damage financial support can and will no longer be ignored.

Traditional fish trap in Manihiki. Poroa Arokapiti, Cook Islands

Non-economic loss and damage: insights from the Pacific Islands

In this guest comment, the authors of a new study on the non-economic dimensions of loss resulting from climate change in the Pacific tell us about their findings — and how vulnerable communities are responding to these losses.

About us

Decarbonisation targets and 1.5℃ pathways

Comment