The Board of the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) will hold its seventh meeting (B.7) on 7-9 October 2025 in the Philippines, the host country of the Board. This Board meeting is expected to be a pivotal moment for the Fund that will move it one step closer to full operationalization ahead of COP30.

At its last meeting (B.6), the Board began initial discussions to operationalize the “Barbados Implementation Modalities” (BIM), the Fund’s start-up phase with an initial allocation of USD 250 million. The BIM may allocate USD 5 to 20 million to activities, projects, or programmes for eligible activities for responding to loss and damage (L&D. It will support bottom-up, country-led, and country-owned approaches that promote and strengthen national responses to L&D.

Discussions at B.6 focused on a framing proposal for eligible activities and funding criteria, as well as a proposal for a project/programme cycle for the BIM. Due to concerns that the proposal would lead to significant barriers for developing countries to submit proposals to the Fund given the extensive and complex list of proposed elements, the matter was deferred to B.7.

There are significant expectations for B.7, including the adoption of the policies that will allow developing countries to begin accessing resources from the Fund in 2026.

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Access modalities

The Board is tasked with developing various modalities to facilitate countries’ access to the Fund’s resources. For the BIM, these may include:

1. Direct access via subnational, national and regional entities or in partnership with entities accredited to the GCF, GEF and Adaptation Fund;
2. Direct access via direct budget support through national Governments, or in partnership with entities such as multilateral development banks;
3. International access via multilateral or bilateral entities; and
4. Rapid disbursement modalities, as appropriate.

The Board is expected to define how these access modalities will be operationalized for the BIM at B.7, including options for possible arrangements for direct access via direct budget support, and which entities previously accredited by other funds will be able to initially implement projects or programmes with the FRLD.

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Key elements to decide on at B.7

According to the provisional agenda, the Board will have to decide upon the following at B.7:

1. Eligible activities: The eligible activities refer to the types of activities that can be supported by the Fund under the BIM, and are based on the Governing Instrument. These activities will represent the full scope of the Fund, including activities responding to economic and non-economic losses, addressing a variety of challenges associated with the adverse effects of climate change, such as climate-related emergencies, sea level rise, displacement, relocation, migration, insufficient climate information and data, and the need for climate-resilient recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction, as well as activities that address slow onset events and extreme weather events.
2. Funding criteria: The funding criteria will serve as a guideline that countries will have to use to provide information when submitting funding requests to the Fund. The Secretariat will review the funding requests against the funding criteria, which may include elements about how the proposals demonstrate country-led and country-owned approaches, among others to be agreed by the Board.
3. Project/programme cycle: This funding cycle shall describe the process under which every funding request will go through, starting from its elaboration to the review by the Secretariat, approval, implementation, and closure.
4. Direct budget support: At B.6, the Board tasked the Co-Chairs to engage with the World Bank to identify the approach to facilitate direct access via direct budget support for all developing countries. The Board will deliberate on the options for making this access modality work during the BIM and in the long-term operation of the Fund.
5. Accredited entities: The Board is expected to agree on a list of institutions that will be eligible to implement projects under the BIM, based on a list of entities that have already been accredited by other multilateral climate funds, such as the GCF, GEF and the Adaptation Fund.
6. Long-term resource mobilization strategy: In order to operate at the speed and scale that responding to L&D represents, with estimated needs for economic damages alone in developing countries projected to be around USD 395 billion in 2025¹, the Fund must grow well beyond its current level of pledges and contributions by donor countries totalling USD 788.80 million. At B.7, the Board will have to consider launching the long-term resource mobilization strategy to scale up resources.

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A call for proposals would be launched shortly after B.7 if the Board reaches agreement on the policies that will operationalize the BIM. Developing countries must designate a national authority (NDA) or national focal point to the FRLD, based on the guidance adopted by the Board at B.6. All funding requests will have to be officially submitted to the Secretariat by the NDA.

A strong outcome at B.7 will be crucial for the Board to show significant progress towards the operationalization of the Fund at COP30. This would include an agreement by the Board on the eligible activities, simplified funding criteria, the project/programme cycle, an established modality to operationalize direct budget support, an agreed list of accredited entities eligible to implement projects under the BIM, and the launching of the long-term resource mobilization strategy.