PH signs host country agreement for Loss and Damage Fund Board

The Philippines has launched the operationalization of the Loss and Damage Fund, after the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) chief Ma. Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga signed the host country agreement for the board at the 29th Conference of Parties (COP) in Baku on Tuesday.

“For the Philippines living with risks and loss and damage has been part of our history as an archipelago. We therefore have a deep and personal stake in ensuring that the fund for responding to loss and damage succeeds,” said Yulo-Loyzaga, who also heads the Philippine delegation at Baku.

“By hosting the board of the fund, we are invested in its dynamic and far-reaching mission of cooperation and solidarity by making resources accessible to those who need it the most,” she added.

The Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) was established at COP27 in 2022 — more than 30 years since such a finance mechanism was first proposed. 

When it was operationalized in Dubai in 2023, the fund received nearly $700 million in pledges.

The Philippines secured a seat at the Loss and Damage board in December 2023, and in July 2024, it was elected to host the board. Four months later in Baku, it formally signed the agreement to do so. 

Shortly after the ceremony, the FRLD received another $18 million from Sweden, bringing the total pledges to a little more than $720M. So far, there are 25 countries that have pledged to the FRLD, and only Japan has turned its $10 million pledge into an actual contribution.

In her speech, Yulo-Loyzaga recognized that “the fund may never be enough” but said it “will be critical in addressing the worst impacts of climate change and crucial for our communities to rebuild, recover, and move towards a resilient future.”

Speaking to Filipino journalists at the side lines of COP29, Yulo-Loyzaga admitted that among the issues of the FRLD is "where the sources will be coming from."

While sources will be developed countries, Yulo-Loyzga said they are open to "a broad range of sources including the private sector, philanthrophies, and international organizations."

"We need all of those sources to contribute to the fund otherwise — as you know, we are also talking about the NCQG," she said.

The NCQG is the new climate finance goal that sits as the centerpiece of COP29. Nations need to decide and agree on a new amount that will replace the annual $100B that developed nations pledged to deliver in Paris back in 2015.

At the press conference of Philippine civil society organizations Thursday, Greenpeace Southeast Asia Executive director Yeb Saño pointed out the importance of loss and damage amid the NCQG.

"We are talking about Loss and Damage in the context of how the Philippines has been instrumental [in setting that up], but it will be lip service if we can’t fight for the actual amount that will come into the fund," Saño said, adding the Philippine delegation will need to push for our national interest. "Hindi lang itulak sa board but to ensure that in the NCQG, loss and damage won't drop off the table."

The Philippines is host to the board and has a secretariat function, but the FRLD itself is hosted by the World Bank. 

According to Yulo-Loyzaga, the signing of the agreement "will allow us to receive the board in December, which will be its 4th meeting and essentially and begin to accelerate the operationalization of the fund to achieve its funding."

"We are the host country and we perform a secretariat function but what's encouraging is the new executive director wants to meet with the president to see how both the Philippines and the fund can actually work together to accelerate this operationalization for which contributions are required," she added.

The FRLD will be ready to disburse beginning 2025. "It means houses being rebuilt, people being resettled, and lives and livelihoods saved,” COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev said.

Signing the agreement for Loss and damage is one of the four goals the Philippine delegation wishes to advance at COP29. The other three are adaptation, just transition, and climate finance.

Loss and Damage, widely referred to as the 3rd pillar of climate action along with mitigation (addressing causes of climate change) and adaptation (addressing impacts of climate change), refers to the negative effects of climate change, such as economic losses, infrastructure damages, deaths, and loss in biodiversity and disappearance of culture.  

— RSJ/GMA Integrated News

This story was produced as part of the COP29 Climate Change Media Partnership, a journalism fellowship organized by Internews' Earth Journalism Network and the Stanley Center for Peace and Security.