Launch of the Global Shield Ambition
Enhancing Financial Protection for Climate-Vulnerable Developing Countries to Avert, Minimize and Address Loss and Damage
20 November 2024
17:30 – 18:30 (GMT+4)
BENELUX-EIB Pavilion | COP29
Parties to the Paris Agreement struck a historic deal to create a dedicated Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) at COP27. While the FRLD implementation framework is being developed, there is a need to ensure that financing reaches local communities and goes towards localized solutions that avert, address, and minimize loss and damage. The IPCC assesses that despite the loss of human life and economic damage, the methods and mechanisms to assess and respond to climate-induced loss and damage remain largely undeveloped in climate-vulnerable countries, especially in Least Developed Countries and Small Islands Developing States.
Many of these countries have struggled with fragmented and uncoordinated climate risk financing efforts, where they must navigate a complex web of international stakeholders, funding sources, and application procedures. Current country-based grant systems have limited capacities and do not leverage enough pre-arranged financing for loss and damage and resilience-oriented investments. At the same time, financial transfers are grossly inadequate to meet current expenditures, let alone the additional costs of climate-induced losses. Moreover, local stakeholders do not always have the technical, operational, and financial expertise to use complex financial instruments, such as risk transfer mechanisms, as part of their climate finance strategies.
In response to these challenges, the Global Shield against Climate Risks was established as a catalytic initiative for proven, pre-arranged financial solutions that place country ownership and needs at the forefront. The Global Shield streamlines support by bundling resources and aligning efforts behind national strategies, offering a comprehensive and coordinated country-led approach to closing financial protection gaps and building resilience. Through a systematic country-led approach, the Global Shield presents opportunities to channel investments toward solutions that address and minimize loss and damage while amplifying the voices of vulnerable countries within the international financial architecture.
This COP29 side event will see the launch of the Global Shield Ambition that sets the strategic direction of the Global Shield against Climate Risks initiative. The high-level event will demonstrate how the Global Shield can be an important funding arrangement under the FRLD to respond to climate risks.