‘A Profound Injustice’: Global Campaign Slams Loss & Damage Fund Board for Inaction, Betrayal of Climate Victims

7th FRLD Board Meeting

October 7-9, 2025, Manila

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MANILA, Philippines - October 9, 2025 - Following the conclusion of the 7th Board Meeting of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), the ‘Fill The Fund’ campaign and global civil society leaders have condemned the outcomes as a profound failure to meet the urgent needs of climate-vulnerable nations. After three days of deliberations in Manila, the board approved key operational policies that critics say establish a slow, bureaucratic, and underfunded mechanism, betraying the fund's core mandate to provide rapid support to communities devastated by the climate crisis.

Watch the Press Conference - Recorded Session

The fund is at a critical juncture. Established nearly three years ago at COP27 in Egypt, it has not yet transferred a single penny to impacted countries. The Manila meeting was meant to finalize essential steps to make the fund operational, but advocates argue it has instead cemented a flawed model that is unfit for purpose.

Board member Ambassador Elizabeth Thompson of Barbados acknowledged the procedural steps but quickly pivoted to the legal obligations of polluting nations:

“While I am happy to see the Barbados Implementation Modalities (BIM) operationalized, I hope it spurs innovative approaches that allow the most vulnerable countries to access resources at scale. However, that cannot happen unless the fund is filled, as the need and scale of the crisis far outstrip the money in the fund to date.

“Particularly in the wake of the International Court of Justice decision, the countries responsible for the climate crisis need to fund the cost of loss and damage suffered by affected countries. This is now an urgent and legal matter, and countries must accept their responsibility. This is about justice, responsibility, and adherence to international law.”

Harjeet Singh, Founding Director of Satat Sampada Climate Foundation and Global Convenor of the Fill The Fund Campaign, captured the deep frustration of advocates:

“It took us 30 years of struggle to finally get the fund established in 2022, and now, nearly three years later, not a single penny has been transferred to communities on the front lines of the climate crisis.

“As civil society, we have consistently reminded the board that while they deliberate, people are losing their lives, homes, and livelihoods. This is not just a procedural delay; it's a profound injustice, and the outcomes of this meeting are taking us forward or simply continuing this legacy of inaction.”

Key among the criticisms is the fund’s slow, bureaucratic design and complex rules for access, which are completely at odds with the need for immediate relief.

“The board has approved an extremely traditional, multi-month project cycle that completely fails to address the fund's core purpose: getting money to disaster-hit countries within 24-48 hours,” stated Brandon Wu, Policy Director at ActionAid US. “The root of the problem is the staggering lack of money. The fund was meant to be needs-based, but because developed countries haven't provided the necessary finance, the board is designing policies for a fund at the scale of a few hundred million dollars when trillions are needed.”

“The fund was supposed to simplify access and cut out the middleman, but the approved decision is a nine-page document with three annexes that ensures access will be complicated and difficult,” said Liane Schalatek, Associate Director, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung US. “The decision fails to deliver the direct budget support that developing country governments prioritized and instead ensures that any 'direct' funding in this startup phase will flow primarily through the very multilateral development banks we sought to bypass.”

Leaders from the Global South pointed to the delaying tactics of developed nations and their push for unjust loan-based financing instead of grants.

“Governments of the Global North are simply not serious about this fund, and their delaying tactics have been on full display,” said Lidy Nacpil, Coordinator of the Asian People's Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD). “Pledges of over $750 million were made, but to date, only about half has actually been delivered. What we need is a rapid response fund that can act within hours of a disaster, but what we are getting is a slow, project-based bureaucracy fixated on loans, an unjust and unacceptable response to a crisis the people of the South did not create.”

The problematic role of the World Bank as the fund's interim host also drew sharp criticism.

“Three years down the line, we can tell the world: we told you so,” declared Mwanahamisi Singan, Focal Point for the Women and Gender Constituency. “We fought against housing this fund at the World Bank because we knew it was not fit for purpose. We were promised speed and efficiency; instead, the only efficiency the Bank has shown is in charging its fees. It has killed innovation and forced a return to a failed, traditional project cycle that will not work for loss and damage.”

Charles Zander Deluna, Campaigner for World’s Youth for Climate Justice, elaborated on the legal duty of wealthy nations:

“The International Court of Justice has made the law clear: financial assistance for climate harm is a legal obligation, not an act of charity. The court’s opinion establishes that every emitting country carries responsibility for the damage we see today and must make full reparation when its obligations are not met. We call on governments to fill the fund not as a gesture of goodwill, but as a matter of compliance with international law. Every delay compounds the injustice the court has already recognized.”

Looking ahead, the Fill The Fund campaign and its allies have vowed to escalate pressure on governments globally ahead of COP30.

“This fund was set up to be a rapid response to desperate situations, not another bureaucratic machine,” concluded Tasneem Essop, Executive Director of Climate Action Network International. “As civil society, we will go back to what we do best: mobilizing our collective pressure to keep governments' feet to the fire. We achieved the fund through relentless pressure, and we will ensure it delivers on its promise the same way.”

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Notes to Editors:

1. ⁠Photos from the B7–FRLD Protest, Manila, 7 October 2025. Photo credit: APMDD.

2. Fill The Fund campaign, 9th October 2025 Press Conference recording is available here.

3. Seventh Meeting of the Board of the FRLD.

4. Report on the status of FRLD Trust Fund resources.

5. "Fill The Fund" Campaign Hub is hosted by Satat Sampada Climate Foundation.

For media queries, please contact media@satatsampadaclimate.org