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When floods, storms, and droughts strike, who helps communities pick up the pieces? According to climate justice leader Harjeet Singh, the world still doesn’t have a fair answer. Currently, the countries least responsible for climate change are paying the highest price. When disaster strikes, typically countries must cover around 80% of the costs themselves. As one of the architects of the Loss and Damage Fund, Harjeet argues that wealthy nations should contribute far more, around $400 billion annually, to support those hardest hit by climate disasters. With current pledges at less than one percent of that, the Director of the Satat Sampada Climate Foundation explains why this moment is critical, and why getting money quickly into the hands of affected communities is essential. Harjeet has launched the ‘Fill The Fund’ campaign to pressure wealthy nations and major corporate polluters to pay up for the climate damage they have caused. Recorded live at TED Countdown 2025 in conversation with Climate Curious co-host Ben Hurst.

Check out Harjeet’s recent TED Countdown talk: The real cost of not adapting to climate change, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb_3Vtlziuk

Satat Sampada Climate Foundation – https://www.instagram.com/satatsampadaclimate
Fill The Fund campaign – https://www.instagram.com/fill_the_fund/

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Created by TEDxLondon
Executive produced by Josie Colter
Produced by Ben Beheshty
Curated by Deesha Chandra
Hosted by Maryam Pasha and Ben Hurst
Communications by Tara Cooper and Issey Gladston

00:00 Introduction
00:51 Understanding climate justice
02:40 The Loss and Damage Fund explained
07:05 Challenges and future of the fund
10:26 Conclusion

[00:00:00] Introduction

[00:00:00] Ben Hurst: Welcome to Climate Quickies, bite-sized nuggets of climate goodness. From our TEDxLondon experts in under 10 minutes

[00:00:09] Maryam Pasha: in this week’s climate Curious, we are catching up with one of the key architects of the loss and damage [00:00:15] fund set up at COP27 Haji Singh. To ask, are the right resources reaching the people most affected by climate change?

[00:00:23] Maryam Pasha: Having spent much of his life working on representation for those that are on the receiving end of the worst [00:00:30] climate impacts, we wanted to ask him, what is the loss and damage fund? Why is it essential for helping people get back on their fee after floods, storms, or drought on why loss and damage funding is crucial in climate disaster response.

[00:00:44] Maryam Pasha: [00:00:45] Here’s Harjeet Singh. Stay curious.

[00:00:51] Understanding Climate Justice

[00:00:51] Ben Hurst: So we talk a lot on this podcast about climate justice and I’m, I’m like, I don’t come from a climate background. I don’t really know what I’m talking about at all, [00:01:00] but I do ask good questions because I’m very inquisitive. Um, and I think climate justice is one of those phrases that’s. Kind of bandied around a little bit.

[00:01:08] Ben Hurst: We throw it about, but what does that mean? And specifically, what does climate justice mean in the context of people [00:01:15] in the global south? What are we talking about when we’re talking about climate justice?

[00:01:18] Harjeet Singh: I’m so happy you’re asking this question, Ben, because we, we do, we do see the climate justice on placard.

[00:01:25] Harjeet Singh: Lot more, uh, than what we saw 10 years ago, which is great. [00:01:30] Uh, we heard much more on climate action than climate justice, and the justice word is really important for the global south. What do we actually mean by justice? For us, it’s about equity and it’s about the fair share of action that countries have to take.

[00:01:43] Harjeet Singh: And it’s also about human rights, [00:01:45] uh, particularly of people who are facing the climate crisis as we speak. So why climate justice? Because we know. The climate crisis that we are facing today is a result of bunch of countries and corporations who [00:02:00] took much more than the fair share of atmospheric space, polluted it heavily.

[00:02:05] Harjeet Singh: Their industrialization was built on that pollution. That has caused the crisis in the first place, whereas majority of people in the global south [00:02:15] are suffering from these climate impacts. So for us, it’s about justice, it’s about reparations. It’s about. Making sure that countries and corporations who have done most in causing the problem have to [00:02:30] do much more than what they’re doing now in fixing the crisis and supporting developing countries and vulnerable communities in dealing with the impacts.

[00:02:40] The Loss and Damage Fund explained

[00:02:40] Ben Hurst: So I’ve heard about this loss and damage mechanism loss. And is it [00:02:45] It’s a fund. It’s a fund, yes. Okay. And it started. At Cop 27. Was it, that’s where it was. Agreed. Was it you, was it you that that did it? Yeah. Or that’s a big difference. I was, I was, you can’t say I, I shouldn’t take

[00:02:58] Harjeet Singh: the entire claim, but [00:03:00] there’s no doubt that, uh, I have been, uh, fighting for it since 2010.

[00:03:04] Harjeet Singh: Okay. When this was almost a non-issue among the civil society and majority of governments. The credit should actually go to the. Small island states. It was 1991 when [00:03:15] ATU on behalf of the small island states group called Aosis, actually brought that up, not exactly the same phrase, but said we need to start dealing with sea level rise.

[00:03:25] Harjeet Singh: Because for them it has always been an existential issue.

[00:03:28] Ben Hurst: Mm-hmm.

[00:03:29] Harjeet Singh: [00:03:30] But it did not survive in that framework. You remember the mouthful? Yeah. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which was agreed in 1992. But the conversation continued albeit very, very slowly. Mm-hmm. And then it picked up momentum two decades [00:03:45] later.

[00:03:45] Harjeet Singh: So of course, from civil society side, I have been, uh, involved right at the core and working with, with movements to push for that issue. And eventually we got that first agreement, as you said, Ben. Uh. Cop 27 in Shehe, [00:04:00] Egypt. Okay. That was a historic moment because I was gonna,

[00:04:02] Ben Hurst: right. ’cause this doesn’t sound like the type of thing that Yeah.

[00:04:05] Ben Hurst: All of the countries in the world Exactly. Would wanna agree to doing. Right. Like it sounds like a pretty big thing that you’ve managed to achieve there or you in community with [00:04:15] other people and managed to achieve. Can you break down for me a little bit about what the, the loss and damage fund is and how it functions and what that looks like?

[00:04:22] Ben Hurst: Sure. Uh,

[00:04:24] Harjeet Singh: and I must also say why we talk about loss and damage because the whole world is generally, um, [00:04:30] very conversant about reducing greenhouse gas emissions or protecting forest. Yeah. Decarbonizing that. Yeah, decarbonization. So those things belong to a phrase called mitigation, which means you’re actually mitigating the risk.

[00:04:41] Harjeet Singh: Right. Then the second part is adaptation, which means that [00:04:45] there is some impact that is always going to be there because we have got some kind of. Temperature rise locked in. In fact, now we are living in a 1.6 degree warm world. I’m talking about the concept way back in 1990s. Mm-hmm. So even then, some amount [00:05:00] of warming was locked in.

[00:05:01] Harjeet Singh: So we knew that some impacts are gonna be there, but we, we thought if we will be able to adapt to those impacts. So adaptation something that picked up much more around 2001. Okay. Uh, comprehensively. So mitigation, adaptation, and then, and [00:05:15] then you realize that there are some. Unavoidable or unavoidable and irreversible impacts.

[00:05:22] Harjeet Singh: Okay. For which you need to actually help communities recover from. Right. What happens when I lose? So if you say, I’m giving you money to [00:05:30] retrofit your home so that your home doesn’t get impacted by floods. Yeah. Or cyclones. Thank you. That’s adaptation. I appreciate that. Yeah. But what happens when I lose my home?

[00:05:39] Harjeet Singh: When I lose my farm? Right. Right. When there’s a loss of life, loss of biodiversity. [00:05:45] Right. Loss of land. It’s gone permanently. That’s not adaptation. That’s addressing loss and damage. Yeah. And there was nothing in the UN climate system. That’s why we had to fight for it for 30 years. And eventually we got that agreement, [00:06:00] uh uh at COP 27.

[00:06:01] Harjeet Singh: So that’s why you need this fund, which is now kind of a third pillar of climate action to help people recover from climate impacts.

[00:06:10] Ben Hurst: And COP 27 was. What year was that? That was

[00:06:13] Harjeet Singh: 2022.

[00:06:14] Ben Hurst: So until [00:06:15] 2022, when people were losing their land, losing their homes, losing loved ones, people were losing life. There was no, no financial support for any of those people.

[00:06:25] Ben Hurst: 30 years. That is crazy. That bad. I would, I would say bad

[00:06:29] Harjeet Singh: support was [00:06:30] there, but as the, as the humanitarian action. Yeah. Which is more like solidarity. Yeah. Uh, that comes from people like you and me and from cooperation from governments. Okay. It was not based on responsibility and obligation and let say one more thing why it is [00:06:45] important.

[00:06:45] Harjeet Singh: 90% of disasters that we are facing in the world are weather related. Getting intensified by climate. Others are geophysical like, you know, earthquakes and, and, uh, connected to tsunamis or, or, you know, other kinds of epidemic and so on. So [00:07:00] climate is a major chunk, which is connected to all the disasters that we

[00:07:04] Ben Hurst: are facing right now.

[00:07:05] Challenges and future of the fund

[00:07:05] Ben Hurst: So it’s incredible that we’ve got this fund now that people can, do, they apply for it. How does that work? Or it’s distributed based on the damages that are, that are seen, [00:07:15] but what needs to happen to make sure that that’s being used responsibly and effectively? Like how are there frameworks around that?

[00:07:22] Ben Hurst: Is there, is there an acronym for the framework around how it’s used?

[00:07:25] Harjeet Singh: It’s a good question. Very good question. So first of all, the name of the fund now is [00:07:30] Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage.

[00:07:31] Ben Hurst: Okay.

[00:07:32] Harjeet Singh: And, uh, it is now, it has been provided the legal identity by the Philippines and it’s hosted temporarily by the World Bank.

[00:07:41] Harjeet Singh: And we have had five board meetings so far. [00:07:45] Uh, the sixth one is happening in the, in the Philippines. So what has happened that we have been able to set up the aria? Uh, which is really important to get, get things going. Mm-hmm. Uh, the fund, uh, now has commitments of about [00:08:00] $768 million, uh, which, which happened at, uh, cop 28, um, in Dubai.

[00:08:07] Harjeet Singh: Mm-hmm. Uh, but the hard part is that barely or less than half has actually reached the bank [00:08:15] account, and we are still waiting for that money to real, to be realized. There’s a much bigger challenge. This amount is a drop in the ocean.

[00:08:22] Ben Hurst: Right,

[00:08:23] Harjeet Singh: because that’s, that sounds like a lot because Exactly. It sounds like.

[00:08:26] Harjeet Singh: Exactly. Not a much. The estimates are we need close to $400 [00:08:30] billion. Oh, wow. $400 billion annually in developing countries alone. Now, from that perspective, it’s important that we now have an institution.

[00:08:38] Ben Hurst: Yeah.

[00:08:39] Harjeet Singh: Uh, we are now working on setting up systems and policies and all those things. There was an agreement [00:08:45] at the last board meeting in Barbados that we are setting aside $250 million as a startup program so that we are not waiting for the other money to come in.

[00:08:55] Harjeet Singh: Let’s start and start helping people because it’s urgent. People are, it’s happening now. Yeah. People are [00:09:00] suffering. So the fund is in motion. So let me, uh, for, uh, for your audience to put, give three keywords for people to remember, uh, easily. What are the core issues with the loss and damage fund scale speed.

[00:09:13] Harjeet Singh: And access.

[00:09:14] Ben Hurst: Okay.

[00:09:14] Harjeet Singh: [00:09:15] Right. So we need to make sure that it reaches the right scale. As I said, the gap is not even a billion dollar to $400 billion annually. Right. Speed. When people are affected, they need money now to recover from those impacts. [00:09:30] Delay means more poverty, more inequality, more displacement, more migration.

[00:09:35] Harjeet Singh: Right, right. Uh, we can’t afford that. Third is access. Governments should have a direct access to the fund. Because if you look at the current financial system, [00:09:45] the kind of conditionalities that are put to the kind of arm twisting that happens between the multilateral banking system and countries developing countries, I’m talking about.

[00:09:53] Harjeet Singh: Right. Oh, it’s, it’s horrible. They’re never gonna see that money. So we, we need access to governments for. The large, uh, [00:10:00] infrastructure work, but also to communities because communities must be at the center of this recovery that we are seeing or needs to happen. Yeah. And that’s why community access is important.

[00:10:11] Harjeet Singh: Yeah. And then of course around it, we need stronger governance systems and [00:10:15] accountability systems at all levels developed. Countries are responsible for providing money at scale. Mm-hmm. And developing countries should spend that money properly for that it reaches. You know whom it is intended for.

[00:10:26] Conclusion

[00:10:26] Ben Hurst: I like talking to you now.

[00:10:27] Ben Hurst: I like talking to you because you make, you make really [00:10:30] complicated things. Sound very simple. So I feel like I understand what you are saying. We are talking about the, the scale of how much money is needed, the speed that it’s rolled out, and people having access to that and people being governments. [00:10:45] And communities.

[00:10:45] Ben Hurst: Wonderful. Hajek, man. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank

[00:10:51] Harjeet Singh: you so much for having me. And I must say I’m an internal eternal optimist, uh, and I do have deep faith in humanity and our, our collective [00:11:00] wisdom and what we can do, uh, in this world. So thank you for having me.

[00:11:03] Ben Hurst: Thank you.

[00:11:04] Ben Hurst: Thanks for listening to this quickie.

[00:11:06] Maryam Pasha: This episode was created by our superstar podcast team at TEDxLondon. Until next time,

[00:11:11] Ben Hurst: stay curious.[00:11:15]