The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) and the fifth Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA5) in 2023 saw several significant decisions adopted. This included the conclusion of the Global Stocktake (GST), the agreement on the framework for the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), and the operationalization of the loss and damage (L&D) funding arrangements, including a fund, for addressing and responding to the economic and noneconomic impacts of climate change for particularly vulnerable developing countries. The GST findings on L&D concluded that enhanced action and support to avert, minimize, and address L&D is urgently needed.

The UNFCCC’s Loss and Damage agenda for 2024 is complex and includes issues related to: further operationalizing and developing the arrangements for the L&D Fund established at COP28; enhancing existing and initiating new L&D funding arrangements; technical support; reporting; and negotiating processes that are central to developing mechanisms within the UNFCCC.