What does the U.S. withdrawal from the Board of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage mean for Loss and Damage?

The Trump Administration has pulled the U.S. out of the Board of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), having only pledged only 17.5 million USD to the FRLD despite bearing the largest historic responsibility for the climate crisis. What does this mean for Loss and Damage?

The U.S’s withdrawal sends the wrong message to the global community at a time when the escalating climate crisis is leading to increasing amounts of loss and damage. In 2025 the Loss and Damage needs of developing countries are estimated to be 395 [128–937] billion USD, yet just 741.42 million USD has been pledged to the Fund and less than 50% of that has been paid in.

As highlighted by the Chair of the African Group of Negotiators, Ali Mohamed of Kenya: "[a]t a time when the world needs a concerted effort to fight the effects of climate change, the spirit of multilateralism should remain our guiding light."

The U.S. has a long record of delay tactics and obstructionism on Loss and Damage, however, withdrawal from the Board of the Fund and the Paris Agreement and Trump’s Drill Baby Drill agenda signals a larger rejection of the reality of the climate crisis.

Yet, despite leaving the Board of the Fund and the Paris Agreement, U.S. responsibility for the climate crisis and to uphold Human Rights remains the same. Therefore we must continue to hold them to account to ensure that they pay their fair share towards Loss and Damage finance.

As Rachel Rose Jackson, a research director at Corporate Accountability, said via The Guardian: “We cannot allow the Trump administration, and the greedy corporations pulling the strings, to get away with destroying the planet. It’s time for the United States to pay up its climate debt and do its fair share of climate action.”

‍

See a selection of media coverage (with excellent quotes from Loss and Damage heroes) below:

From Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/united-states-quits-board-un-climate-damage-fund-letter-shows-2025-03-07/

From The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/07/us-exits-fund-that-compensates-poorer-countries-for-global-heating

From the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/03/08/trump-climate-finance-funds/

From Politico: https://www.politico.eu/article/us-withdraws-from-un-climate-damage-fund/

From Le Monde: https://www.lemonde.fr/en/environment/article/2025/03/11/us-withdraws-from-landmark-climate-loss-and-damage-fund_6739022_114.html

From the Chair of the African Group of Negotiators, Ali Mohamed of Kenya: https://x.com/ClimateEnvoyKe/status/1897911144909574212

‍

See the pledges to the FRLD here: https://unfccc.int/topics/climate-finance/funds-entities-bodies/fund-for-responding-to-loss-and-damage/pledges-to-the-fund-for-responding-to-loss-and-damage

See how many pledges have been paid into the FRLD here: https://fiftrustee.worldbank.org/en/about/unit/dfi/fiftrustee/fund-detail/frld

See the remaining Board members here: https://unfccc.int/loss-and-damage-fund-joint-interim-secretariat#Board

‍