Nepal has asked the United Nations loss-and-damage fund for $20 million to help recover from devastating floods. A new analysis by Carbon Brief shows that this request covers only a tiny fraction of the overall financial damage caused by the disaster.
The analysis calculates that the $20 million claim represents about 0.7% of the total flood costs. In other words, the international support being sought is less than one percent of what would be needed to fully address the losses, leaving the vast majority of the burden on the country itself.
The case underscores a central challenge in global climate policy: the loss-and-damage fund, designed to help vulnerable nations cope with climate impacts, is currently disbursing sums that are far out of step with the scale of destruction. Carbon Brief's analysis highlights how the gap between pledged support and on-the-ground needs remains enormous, even as extreme weather events become more frequent and severe.