New global climate 'loss and damage' fund names first director

By Valerie Volcovici

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The board of The Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage to help countries ravaged by climate-driven disasters named Senegalese finance specialist Ibrahima Cheikh Diong as its first director, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change announced on Saturday.

The selection of Diong, a dual U.S. citizen, marks a major milestone in the operationalization of the new World Bank-administered fund, whose creation in 2022 was a breakthrough for developing country negotiators at United Nations climate talks, overcoming years of resistance from wealthy nations.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

Now with the Philippines recently selected as the home of the fund and Diong appointed as director, the fund can begin turning the $800 million pledged to it at last year's COP28 climate summit in Dubai into "tangible funding ready for disbursement," according to the presidency of the next round of climate talks starting in November in Baku, Azerbaijan, known as COP29. COP29's president will call on countries to contribute more money.

CONTEXT

Loss and damage had long been a contentious issue in the U.N. climate talks, with less-developed countries calling for a new fund that specifically assists countries for the catastrophic losses they've incurred due to rising seas and turbo-charged storms and wealthier nations concerned this could become a form of "compensation" for the impact of their share of greenhouse gas emissions.

KEY QUOTE

"The Fund for responding to Loss and Damage will make a significant difference to those disproportionately affected, and I take this responsibility with humility and a full commitment to serve," said Diong in a statement.

(This story has been corrected to drop World Bank from headline and to say that UNFCCC made the announcement, not the World Bank, in paragraph 1)

(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; editing by Diane Craft)