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2026 UN Climate Change Conference

Will Nepal’s flood be a wake-up call for global climate solidarity?

Lucks, Johanna / Aparajita Banerjee / Mariya Aleksandrova
The Current Column (2026)

Bonn: German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), The Current Column of 9 November 2026

The recent flood in Nepal highlights the devastating costs of climate change. As similar events could become more frequent, COP31 should deliver higher climate finance ambition.

Bonn, 9 November 2026. On 26th August 2026, a massive torrent of rock, ice and water swept down the Bhotekoshi–Trishuli River valley in Nepal. Within minutes, it destroyed entire villages, houses and infrastructure. Over 1,500 people lost their lives and 5,600 are still missing. The country estimates recovery and reconstruction costs at USD 4.8 billion, almost 10% of its nominal GDP. The disaster is central to upcoming COP31 debates on climate action.

A recent World Weather Attribution report argues that climate change played a key role in compounding conditions and shaping this disaster. Rising temperatures, thinning glaciers, and thawing permafrost have catastrophic implications for the Himalaya. Nepal’s people will continue to bear the consequences of a warming world, despite emitting only 0.1% of the global greenhouse gases. High reconstruction and recovery costs will jeopardise Nepal’s future fiscal health. Fear that similar events could become routine and affect the local tourism sector, an important employer for youth, is also potent.

Nepalese Prime Minister Balendra Shah brought his anguish to the United Nations General Assembly debates this year, urging strong commitments to multilateralism where small countries’ voices on the grave local impacts of global emissions are heard, and solutions are found through cooperation. He further called for an expansion of grant-based climate finance which countries affected by climate disasters can access more quickly.

The Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage: a test case of global solidarity?

The Nepal incident offers a test case for the effectiveness of the UN Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) in providing accessible finance to countries facing catastrophic climate change consequences. Established in 2022, FRLD is a grant-based and country-driven mechanism mandated to support developing countries to recover from climate-related extreme events, and to address losses resulting from slow onset climate changes. 27 donor partners have pledged a total of USD 822 million to FRLD. However, only USD 516 million in paid-in contributions have been received. Germany has shown leadership by pledging and delivering USD 100 million from the BMZ’s budget for the FRLD start-up phase. An additional 150 million euros is pledged for the replenishment phase to be launched in 2027. Yet, demands within the first funding cycle make clear that FRLD cannot hold up to actual finance needs. 119 developing countries submitted grant requests totalling USD 2.8 billion, highlighting the significant funding gap of FRLD.

Nepal’s government formally requested emergency climate compensation worth USD 20 million from FRLD on 31st August, outside the official submission window. Although this amount is negligible compared with the huge costs, it tested the practical accessibility of the FRLD mechanism, which was created precisely for cases like Nepal's. In a landmark decision, the FRLD secretariat accepted the request on 22nd October, thereby first ever responding to an urgent request beyond the yearly cycle of grant application.

Strong multilateral climate governance is a lifeline for many regions

The Nepal case sparks hope on how multilateral climate finance mechanisms can adjust to respond to the urgent needs of countries devastated by climate disasters. Yet, UN climate funds like the FRLD have limited ability to tackle the scale and pace of the negative impacts of climate change, despite being essential for advancing equity and justice under the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement. As COP31 opens in Türkiye on 9th November, the conference should deliver higher climate finance ambition, where the performance and first replenishment of the FRLD will be discussed. The issue is pressing, as the FRLD risks to run out of funds if international commitment stagnates, which would leave developing countries severely affected by climate disasters behind.

Importantly, amid declining ODA and mounting climate crisis costs, a critical political priority should be improved predictability and access especially to adaptation and loss and damage funding - as emphasised in the Taku Pakasoa Declaration of Leaders adopted at the Pre-COP31 meetings in Fiji and Tuvalu. Moreover, the disastrous climate event in Nepal highlights the urgent need for world leaders to demonstrate global responsibility to cut emissions and reach a collective decision to phase out fossil fuels. As we witness melting mountains and the immense human cost of climate change, the climate injustice evident in Nepal's recent floods should indeed serve as a wake-up call for renewed global solidarity on climate action.

Johanna Lucks is a participant of the 62nd Postgraduate Programme for Sustainability Cooperation (PGP) and member of the research group on blended finance.

Aparajita Banerjee is a senior researcher in the research department “Environmental Governance” at IDOS.

Mariya Aleksandrova is a senior researcher in the research department “Environmental Governance” at IDOS.

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