On 4 November 2022, Malik Amin Aslam Khan, former Pakistan Minister for climate change and Benito Müller, ecbi Director, had an OpEd titled ‘Time to Respond!’ published on the news aggregator unclimatesummit.org and the OCP blog site. The authors make the case that: “we urgently need a new multilateral pilot fund to respond to such climate induced loss and damage. The fund should be focussed on recovery, reconstruction, and rehabilitation after having suffered adverse climate impacts. Leaders must heed their genuine demands and help the most vulnerable displaced people to relocate their lives with dignity and rebuild critical infrastructure in a climate compatible manner. COP27 offers yet another opportunity for leaders to fill the gap in existing funding arrangements, which are no longer adequate to meet the requirements of the most vulnerable countries.”

On the same topic, Müller was also quoted in a post on the Wall Street Journal Climate & Energy website, arguing that, with its litigious connotations, the term “loss and damage” is regrettable. Instead, he suggested the term “response fund” for the proposed fund might be more acceptable to such countries as the US. Müller said moves by Denmark and Scotland to offer money for countries hit by climate-related disasters suggest that “the dike has been broken” but of course much more needs to be done. Click here to see the WSJ post authored by Ed Ballard.