Skip to content
Environment, Political

Plan International Australia responds to the Australian Government’s $50 million Loss and Damage pledge at COP29

Plan International Australia 3 mins read
  • Media:

For immediate release:  Wednesday 20 November

Plan International Australia responds to the Australian Government’s $50 million Loss and Damage pledge

[Baku, Azerbaijan] Plan International Australia today welcomes Australia’s commitment of $50million to the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage.

The loss and damage caused by climate change is completely and irrevocably reshaping the lives of communities across the Pacific region. Adolescent girls in particular are facing immense hardship, with half of girls surveyed in our recent research having missed out on school due to climate events. More than a quarter of girls we surveyed already have less food and almost 20 per cent are going hungry due to the climate crisis.

“My village is situated along the coast. Whenever there's high tide, water comes inland and most times it covers half the village. The high tide also brings in more rubbish that dumps it right to my doorstep which affects my health,” said Bulou, a 10-year-old Indigenous girl living in a rural village in Fiji.

This important commitment from Australia must be one part of broader action towards the climate crisis at the scale needed.  Critically, in allyship with our Pacific partners, Australia should champion that loss and damage be included within the new collective, global finance goal being negotiated in Baku. Australia also needs to lift the overall volume of our climate financing, with a focus on grant-based finance that is new and additional to development assistance.

“As the world’s second largest exporter of fossil fuels, and a country that has contributed significantly to the climate crisis the world is now experiencing, this is the Australian Government’s responsibility and it is the right thing to do,” said Plan International Australia CEO Susanne Legena.

“It is imperative the Australian Government take greater, rapid climate action for the children of today and future generations. The world is facing record-breaking climate disasters, which are affecting vulnerable communities – the people who have contributed the least to climate change – disproportionately.

“Just this week the Philippines experienced its sixth super typhoon in a month, impacting millions of people. With global leaders, powerholders and some of the world’s most prominent companies gathering at COP29 this week, it is crystal clear that the world’s wealthiest nations must step up and agree on an ambitious new goal for collective climate finance to assist those bearing the brunt of the climate crisis, the cost of which is skyrocketing, from billions to trillions each year.

“We very much welcome the news overnight that Australia has pledged $50 million towards loss and damage, but this must be part of broader action that meets the scale and speed of the crisis.

“We all have an obligation to make sure that we do not pass on the escalating impacts of climate change to low-income countries or future generations,” she said.

[ENDS]

Notes to editors:

For further information and interviews, contact: Claire Knox, Media, PR and Ambassador Manager, Plan International Australia. Email: Claire.knox@plan.org.au Phone: 0452326549

Download Pacific Girls in a Changing Climatehere.

About Plan International Australia: Put simply, we’re the charity for girls’ equality. We tackle the root causes of poverty, support communities through crises, campaign for gender equality, and help governments do what’s right for children and particularly for girls. We believe a better world is possible. An equal world; a world where all children can live happy and healthy lives, and where girls can take their rightful place as equals.www.plan.org.au

More from this category

  • Environment
  • 10/01/2025
  • 14:15
NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA)

COUNCIL FINED FOR POLLUTING SENSITIVE MARINE ENVIRONMENT

Port Stephens Council has been fined $30,000 by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) for discharging sediment-laden water into a stormwater system that leads to a protected marine sanctuary zone within the Port Stephens–Great Lakes Marine Park. The discharge incident occurred in June 2024 when a pond holding the water collapsed during excavation works at Neil Carroll Park in Nelson Bay, releasing it into the local stormwater system which flows into Marine Park waters near the Fly Point-Corrie Island sanctuary zone. EPA Executive Director of Operations David Gathercole said the incident was concerning given the high sensitivity of nearby waters.…

  • Contains:
  • Environment, Science
  • 10/01/2025
  • 14:09
The Climate Council

Breaking bad records: 2024 marks world’s worst heat, climate pollution

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE GLOBAL CLIMATE SCIENTISTS have confirmed 2024 was the world’s hottest since records began, eclipsing the previous record set in 2023 and raising alarm that burning fossil fuels has left the planet ‘teetering on the brink’ of breaking the 1.5°C barrier set by the Paris Agreement. Coordinated modelling and analysis produced by experts at NASA, European climate service Copernicus the US weather service NOAA, the UK Met Office, Berkeley Earth and the World Meteorological Organisation finds every year in the past decade has been one of the hottest ten on record. The burning of coal, oil and gas…

  • Environment
  • 09/01/2025
  • 15:23
Friends of the Earth Australia

Los Angeles fire a wake up call for Australia

The fires currently tearing through Los Angeles are a reminder that Australia can no longer rely on northern hemisphere nations for water-bombing aircraft and firefighters during our summer. “During our Black Summer, more than 1,000 people came from North America to assist in firefighting efforts. Australia recently sent multiple teams to assist with the fires in North America. This sharing of resources, including aircraft, firefighters and specialists, is how we fight fires in the 21st century” said Friends of the Earth campaigns co-ordinator Cam Walker. “And the fact that fires are raging in mid winter in the USA highlights that…

Media Outreach made fast, easy, simple.

Feature your press release on Medianet's News Hub every time you distribute with Medianet. Pay per release or save with a subscription.