FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
11 MARCH 2025
The United States has announced plans to pull out of the landmark Loss and Damage Fund. The burning of fossil fuels has resulted in immeasurable damage to livelihoods, communities, and ecosystems across the world, but disproportionately in regions that bear no historical responsibility for fossil-fueled climate change. The Loss and Damage Fund is a crucial mechanism by which polluting countries agreed to compensate those that have already experienced loss and damages caused by climate change.
Since its establishment, the U.S. has contributed just $17.5 million to the fund. But analysis published last week shows the recent US withdrawals from overseas aid amounts to nearly 10% reduction in overall global climate finance. An unequivocal step backwards in limiting global heating to below 1.5 degrees and protecting lives and livelihoods around the world.
Savio Carvalho, Head of Regions at 350.org says:
“The Loss and Damage Fund remains a critical pillar of climate justice – offering essential financial assistance to communities devastated by the impacts of climate change. While the U.S. decision to withdraw from the fund is a significant setback, and shows a lack of moral courage and leadership, it underscores the urgent need for other nations to step up their contributions and commitments. The global community must rally together to ensure the fund’s effectiveness in addressing the growing climate crisis and supporting those who bear its heaviest burdens.”
Agreed upon at the United Nations climate talks in Egypt in 2022, and then formally operationalized the following year at COP28 in Dubai, the establishment of the fund represented an indisputable step towards climate justice, and a testament to the leadership of climate-impacted countries and negotiators who held the line at the UN talks – its establishment seen as a significant breakthrough whereby rich countries acknowledged their climate debts.
Joseph Sikulu, Pacific Managing Director at 350.org says,
“It may be easy to withdraw from a global climate agreement when you aren’t face to face with villagers who are rebuilding homes battered by cyclones. Or to sign executive orders when you aren’t excavating your grandparents’ bones as sea levels flood family cemeteries. It is evident that the US can not be considered a climate leader, and it is more important than ever that the rest of the global community remain united. The success of the loss and damage fund goes beyond multilateral cooperation, it means getting resources in the hands of people who have lost everything to the climate crisis.”
This news comes on the heels of last week’s announcement that the U.S. plans to pull out of the Just Energy Transition Partnership agreements set up under the Biden administration – models of climate finance that had been agreed between G7 countries and Indonesia, South Africa, Vietnam, and Senegal, to aid their transition away from coal.
Chuck Baclagon, Asia Regional Campaigner at 350.org says
“The US decision to walk away from the Loss and Damage Fund is more than just another broken promise—it’s a gut punch to the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations, particularly in Asia, where the climate crisis isn’t a distant threat but a daily reality. From Bangladesh’s sinking deltas to Vietnam’s vanishing coastlines, from Pakistan’s catastrophic floods to the supercharged typhoons hammering the Philippines, the continent is already bearing the brunt of a crisis it did little to cause. If the U.S. won’t step up, then the rest of the world—especially those responsible for the bulk of historical emissions—must.”
Christian Hounkannou, Africa Regional Organiser at 350.org says,
‘’No amount of money can truly compensate for the loss of cultural and ancestral values or the lives lost to the climate crisis. However, the step toward operationalizing the Loss and Damage Fund was a positive start to climate negotiations. For a continent already facing immense destruction, this fund is crucial to ensuring that communities can rebuild and move forward with dignity. While we condemned the inadequate contributions and pledges from wealthy nations—knowing that affected communities need hundreds of billions, not just millions—we deeply regret the U.S. decision to withdraw from the fund.‘’
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ENDS
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