Climate change-induced loss and damage is one of the biggest environmental threats to our generation. The lack of drastic reduction in emissions and the failure to provide adequate support to most vulnerable countries compelled young people from developing and developed nations to establish the Loss & Damage Youth Coalition in the lead-up to COP26 in 2021. While we are hopeful about the COP28 agreement on the operationalization of the Loss and Damage Fund (L&D Fund), its funding arrangements, and the Santiago Network on Loss and Damage (SNLD), we are concerned that many of these decisions still require a significant political shift to meet our core demands for climate justice.

Some progress has been made since COP28 – achieved through the meetings of the SNLD’s first advisory board, the first meeting of the Board of the Loss and Damage Fund, and the ninth technical expert dialogue and first meeting under the ad-hoc program on the New Collective Quantified Goal on climate finance (NCQG). Despite this, significant work is needed to provide funding that is grant-based and additional, with full accountability and transparency that is directly accessible to those most vulnerable in line with the principles of climate justice. For the 60th session of the Subsidiary Bodies, as a mid-way point to COP29, our primary demand is to accelerate the operationalization of the L&D Fund, while ensuring that finance for loss and damage is predictable, adequate, new, additional, accessible, and grant-based. 

In the era of loss and damage, we can no longer afford only to deliver only the bare minimum. As a global youth network of climate advocates, researchers, activists, negotiators, and action-takers, we call for concrete and tangible action to address economic and non-economic losses and damages with the following demands:

1. We expect a response from the World Bank by early June 2024 justifying its ability to host the Loss and Damage Fund. We expect clarity on how the World Bank will adhere to the eleven conditions, which include allowing developing countries and organizations to access the resources from the fund directly. We further stress that loss and damage action should incorporate gender and intergenerational justice considerations.
   
   
2. With the SNLD being fully operationalized by the decision to headquarter the institution in Geneva, Switzerland, we demand that the process of catalyzing demand-driven technical assistance for countries begin as soon as possible, allowing for governments to communicate their loss and damage needs and enhance the Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM). We demand that the WIM be under the guidance of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement to ensure loss and damage action in line with climate justice.
   
   
3. We demand that climate finance negotiations incorporate a third pillar on “loss and damage” with a quantum and scope that prioritizes both the economic and non-economic needs of developing countries. The source and the means of the new finance goal should be aligned with the funding arrangements of the L&D Fund. To achieve this, it is important to understand how the pledges made at COP28 will be fulfilled and to consider the institutional procedures in each country. This understanding will help ensure that the new financial goal and the funding arrangement of the L&D Fund are effectively integrated.
   
   
4. We warmly welcome the first-ever expert dialogue on children and climate change during SB60. “Loss and damage” should be a cross-counting aspect in the implementation of the Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) to enhance the ability of children and young people to learn about the climate crisis, and to incorporate their voices and meaningful participation within multilateral decision-making processes on loss and damage. 
   
   
5. The next round of submissions of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) should serve as an opportunity to alleviate the disastrous impacts of the climate crisis at local and national levels. The Global Stocktake outcome called on parties and relevant institutions to improve the coherence and synergies between efforts in addressing disaster risk reduction, rehabilitation, and loss and damage. Such data should be accessible and highlight gaps in climate action across adaptation, mitigation, and loss and damage efforts. We demand that the new round of NDC submissions incorporate measures and steps taken to address both the economic and non-economic impacts of loss and damage and to identify related gaps.
   
   
6. Loss and damage occur when the climate impact surpasses adaptation capacity. We demand that the implementation of the 2-year UAE-Belem Work Programme establish clear, measurable, and achievable indicators, taking into account the financial constraints and limitations of vulnerable countries regarding monitoring and evaluation.
   
   
7. We, across generations, will suffer the consequences of empty and fake promises. We demand the integration of loss and damage in the transparency framework. This will improve our collective knowledge of climate change impacts, and support the reporting and data collection of action frameworks to address economic and non-economic loss and damage within the UNFCCC and beyond.