Over 200 Organisations Warn the Loss & Damage Fund Could Run Dry by 2027, Demand US $400 Billion Annual Lifeline
- Fill The Fund
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Updated: 35 minutes ago
8th FRLD Board Meeting
April 22-24, 2026, Zambia
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
20 April 2026
More than 200 organizations, representing millions of people through civil society, faith-based, and Indigenous Peoples' groups, have issued an urgent open letter coordinated by the Fill The Fund campaign. Their demand to the Board of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) is unequivocal: implement a human rights-based Resource Mobilization Strategy (RMS) capable of delivering at least US $400 billion annually by 2035.
The letter arrives days before the FRLD Board's eighth meeting in Livingstone, Zambia, where members will make critical decisions about the Fund's start-up phase. It forces the Board to confront a stark reality: if the RMS fails to deliver, the Fund could run completely out of money by 2027.
The numbers tell a damning story. Pledges to the FRLD total just US $822 million with a merely US $448 million actually paid in. That is less than 0.1 percent of the $400 billion per year scientists say the Fund must disburse by 2035 just to begin meeting the escalating needs of developing countries.
The FRLD was established in 2022 under the UNFCCC after more than 30 years of advocacy by civil society and developing nations, hailed as a landmark victory for climate justice. That promise is now in jeopardy. The open letter points to a stark contradiction: rich countries have found trillions of dollars for bank bailouts, pandemic responses, and military spending yet claim empty coffers when asked to fund the climate crisis they created.
The open letter calls on the FRLD Board to adopt a progressive, science-based replenishment pathway: at least $50 billion per year from 2027, rising to $100 billion per year by 2031, and a minimum of $400 billion per year by 2035. It draws a firm line against debt-creating finance insisting that climate-vulnerable communities must not be forced into debt to recover from harms they did not cause and calls for mandatory, polluter-pays contribution mechanisms, including a Climate Damages Tax on fossil fuel extraction.
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Harjeet Singh, Global Convenor, Fill The Fund Campaign and Founding Director, Satat Sampada Climate Foundation, based in India
"There is an insulting chasm between the few million dollars currently trickling into the Fund and the hundreds of billions urgently required on the ground. Vulnerable communities across the Global South are already bearing the catastrophic and disproportionate costs of climate inaction.
"We did not spend three decades fighting for a hollow mechanism that merely shuffles around loose change. This Fund was established to deliver hundreds of billions of dollars annually to meet real, escalating needs, and we will not accept anything less."
Tasneem Essop, Executive Director, CAN International, based in South Africa
"It is an absolute disgrace that rich nations can instantly mobilize billions to fund endless wars and systematically protect the wealth of billionaires, yet suddenly claim their coffers are empty when faced with the climate crisis. The global elite are shielding their profits while vulnerable people pay the ultimate price.
“Rich countries must be held strictly accountable for the devastation they have caused. Their failure to fulfill their responsibility to the Loss and Damage Fund is not just an oversight; it is a shameful betrayal of humanity."
Liane Schalatek, Associate Director, Heinrich Böll Foundation Washington, DC
“At the exact time rich countries are cutting climate finance due to 'budget constraints,' they are shifting immense sums into the military and subsidizing fossil fuel companies, all while oil corporations reap windfall profits of US $30 million an hour. This behavior clearly demands reparations under international law.
"Let’s be clear: rich nations have the resources to fund the FRLD. By taxing excessive wealth and climate polluters, they can fulfill their legal and human rights obligations. The Fund's Resource Mobilization Strategy must be equipped to channel hundreds of billions of dollars annually to those who need it most.”
Brandon Wu, Director of Policy & Campaigns, ActionAid USA
“The U.S. is spending US $2 billion a day on an illegal war in Iran, with a potential US $1.5 trillion military budget on the horizon. When it comes to destruction, rich countries have unlimited funds, but for communities impacted by climate change, they offer only scraps or nothing at all.
"The FRLD must design a Resource Mobilization Strategy that matches the scale of the climate crisis with the massive scale of global wealth we see being thrown around today. To fulfill its mandate, the Fund must be equipped to receive and channel hundreds of billions of dollars a year.”
Brenda Mwale, Outreach Lead at the Loss and Damage Collaboration, based in Malawi
“Developed countries pledged solidarity, yet when the moment came to fill the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage, commitments fell far short, they are not only delayed, but deeply inadequate. The sums pledged barely scratch the surface of what developing countries actually need to recover from escalating climate impacts.
“While floods, droughts, and storms intensify, vulnerable nations are left navigating devastation with resources that are symbolic rather than sufficient. It is not just a failure to deliver on promises; it is a failure to match the scale of a crisis that continues to grow, leaving those least responsible to bear costs the world has yet to fully acknowledge, let alone fund.”
Ineza Umuhoza Grace, Co-Founder of the Loss and Damage Youth Coalition
"For the FRLD to succeed, its Resource Mobilization Strategy must bring absolute clarity on how to define loss and damage, proving these funds add real, additional value. The Strategy must also link seamlessly with the new climate finance goal (NCQG) regarding the sources, scale, and quality of finance, ensuring the FRLD receives the same focus as other climate mechanisms.
"Ultimately, this Fund must be rooted in the actual needs of developing countries. We must establish a clear distinction between traditional humanitarian support and the specific, long-term finance required to address irreversible climate impacts, all while adopting a country-owned approach."
David Hillman, Director, Stamp Out Poverty, UK
"As a country with a huge historical carbon footprint and a major player in driving the climate crisis, the UK has an undeniable moral and financial obligation to step up. Contributing our fair share to the Loss and Damage Fund is not an act of charity, it is a long-overdue debt owed to the communities currently losing their homes, livelihoods and lives to a crisis they did not create.
"We must call out the fossil fuel industry that is responsible for the climate crisis. Making polluters pay for the damages they have caused must be at the heart of climate justice."
Sinéad Loughran, Climate Justice Policy & Advocacy Advisor, Trócaire, Ireland
“Global North governments, including Ireland, are failing on their climate obligations, and their tactics of ‘dodge and delay’ couldn’t be more evident in their failure to provide their fair share of finance to the FRLD. Loss and damage finance is a central obligation of wealthy states, and their bill is long overdue.
“While they fail to deliver this finance, communities in the Global South face the escalating impacts of the climate crisis, paying for this inaction with their lives, livelihoods, homes, cultures, and communities.”
Ben Wilson, Director of Public Engagement, SCIAF, Scotland
“The Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage urgently needs more cash to deliver justice. Whilst many are getting rich off fossil fuels, the world’s poorest are meeting the costs. This is a deep injustice that cannot be ignored. A successful FRLD is vital to unlocking the success of the entire global climate regime and requires an urgent re-prioritisation of L&D finance from Global North governments.
"Following its ground-breaking commitment to fund loss and damage at COP26, we are calling on the Scottish Government to pledge further cash to this vital issue, redouble its advocacy efforts, and for the UK Government to follow Scotland's lead in making loss and damage a priority.”
Notes to Editors:
Read the full Open Letter here.
Joint Submission on the Resource Mobilization Strategy to FRLD
Learn more about the Fill The Fund Campaign here.
More about the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) here.
About the Barbados Implementation Modalities (BIM) here.
FRLD’s trust fund (details what pledges have been paid in) are here.
Different studies that quantify loss and damage costs:
Fill The Fund Campaign Hub is convened by Satat Sampada Climate Foundation. Media Contact:
Name: Teo Ormond-Skeaping
Signal/ WhatsApp: +44 7989 448893
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