Countries least to blame for climate change but suffering the most could finally be helped in 2025

Climate-vulnerable countries could start receiving money from the long-awaited loss and damage fund as early as 2025.

This pot of money is intended to help compensate low-income countries for the damage caused by climate-related natural disasters. It has faced a number of hurdles throughout its development but finally, the funds could start being disbursed to those who need them most as soon as next year.

Finance is one of the key focuses for COP29 in Baku this November and the future of this vital climate justice tool could hang on these negotiations.

Dubbed the ‘finance COP’, countries are set to work out the finer details of the loss and damage fund in Baku next month.

But, in the interim between the two climate COPs, lots of procedural points have been ironed out and progress has finally been made toward getting this money to countries in need.

A board has been nominated to oversee the fund, the World Bank was (controversially) chosen as its institutional home and the Philippines was selected as its host country.

The board officially hired Ibrahima Cheikh Diong, a Senegalese and American national who has worked at public and private banks, as the fund’s executive director at a pre-COP meeting in late September.

At this meeting in Azerbaijan, the fund’s board also completed crucial groundwork that will hopefully see funding disbursed for the first time in 2025.

“This breakthrough in Baku marks a crucial step in enabling action on climate change,” COP29 president-designate Mukhtar Babayev said in a statement.

“This is a truly historic day, years in the making, that has required determination from so many and an unwavering focus on the needs of those on the frontlines of the climate crisis.”

The COP29 presidency added that it hopes to use this year’s climate conference to work with the countries which have already pledged money to convert those pledges into tangible funding for communities that urgently need it.

The fight for an operational loss and damage fund has been a long one. Small island nations, African countries and climate justice activists have been among its strongest advocates over the last three decades.

Less-developed nations have led