Report underscored emergency need for crisis-level action via loss and damage funding for the most vulnerable economies

MANILA, June 9, 2022 – A report released yesterday by the Vulnerable Twenty (V20) Group of Finance Ministers detailed the massive economic damage wrought by climate change on the economies of the V20, representing countries considered the most vulnerable to climate change. V20 finance ministers called for the immediate establishment of an international financing facility to provide countries with direly needed funding support.

The Climate Vulnerable Economies Loss Report, authored by climate research firm FinRes, showed that the V20 would be 20 percent wealthier than they are today if not for losses and damages brought by climate change over the last twenty years. In the most at-risk V20 economies, economic losses due to the climate crisis exceeded half of the growth in their economies since 2000—despite having contributed the least to causing climate change and being the least equipped to manage its impacts.

Representing 55 of the world’s most climate-vulnerable economies, the V20 recognizes the need for dedicated international funding to counter loss and damage due to climate change. Developed countries have also recognized the significance of loss and damage finance to combat climate change, as expressed by the G20. 

Responding to the findings of the loss and damage report, Angelo Kairos Dela Cruz, deputy executive director and climate finance lead of the Manila-based international think tank Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC), said:

“The latest report by the V20 is not just about the incredible wealth destruction and massive pain inflicted on the poor. It also underscores the inequitable burden vulnerable countries have had to carry in response to the impacts of a fast-changing climate that these countries are least responsible for. The way developed countries have shirked their responsibility over this crisis is obscene. Given how climate negotiations are currently going, rich countries seem determined to de-prioritize loss and damage even as they continue to pass on the funding burden to vulnerable countries, who to this day have had no choice but to continue to pay for the consequences of avarice among the wealthy.

“The report contests the romanticized concept saying we are all on the same boat in this climate crisis. We might be in the same ocean, but we are certainly on different boats, and many are just merely clinging to debris in a vast sea of uncertainty. Rich countries must deliver on their commitments to climate action.

“Developed countries can commit to existing climate funds, especially the Green Climate Fund. They can provide premium and capital support following the InsuResilience Global Partnership’s principles. For sure, rich nations must promote country-driven plans by supporting needs-based and demand-driven processes and decision-making.

“It’s time for developed countries to stop over-reporting their climate finance contributions. In the Philippines alone, it is estimated that around 37 percent of its adaptation-tagged finance is over-accounted by its sources of international climate funds, which are dominantly rich countries.

“Vulnerable nations have been at the receiving end of both slow-onset and extreme climate impacts for decades, and the problem will only get worse if we don’t act decisively and soon. Developed countries must show they are accountable for the consequences of their inaction, and they need to do their part in ensuring a secure and thriving future for all is within reach.”

NOTE TO THE EDITOR
The Climate Vulnerable Economies Loss Report was released by the V20 Group of Finance Ministers, led by the Republic of Ghana, which holds the presidency of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) for the next two years, and in collaboration with FinRes, Aroha, Financial Futures Center, Global Center on Adaptation, and ICSC. Access the full loss and damage report here. 

The report was launched in a press conference during the United Nations climate negotiations in Bonn, Germany. Watch the full presser here.

ABOUT
ICSC is an international climate and energy policy group based in the Philippines advancing climate resilience and low carbon development.

CONTACT
AC Dimatatac, ICSC: media@icsc.ngo, +63 917 149 5649, +63 998 546 9788

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PHOTO: Aftermath of Typhoon Phanfone (locally known as Ursula) in the coastal communities of Guiuan, Eastern Samar last December 2019. (c) Glinly Alvero/ICSC