On 1 September, six days after a glacial collapse on the Nepal-China border killed over 1,200 people, Nepal’s Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal said his country was paying the ultimate price for a global crisis it did not create. Instead of asking for relief, Kathmandu demanded climate compensation from the world’s three biggest emitters — the United States, China and India — and took the demand to the Loss and Damage fund out of cycle.
Nepal produces 0.1 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gases and almost all of its own electricity from hydropower. The Third Pole above it is warming at nearly twice the global average, its glaciers melting at ten times their historical rate. The August floods crippled about 10 per cent of Nepal’s installed capacity, wiped out older plants like Devighat and forced a net power exporter to start importing power to survive the winter. Damages are put at $4 billion to $7 billion, a tenth of the country’s GDP.
The fund built for exactly this holds $700 million in pledges, and caps a single grant at $20 million.
