Catriona Flesher

Area of work and how it relates to COP30:

PhD Researcher in Loss and Damage

What are the big issues that COP30 needs to address? What are your hopes for the negotiations?

In the world of Loss and Damage, all eyes are on the start-up phase of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), which has been under establishment since COP27. The COP is expected to provide formal guidance to the FRLD about its funding approaches at COP30 - informing whether, and in what form, loss and damage funding starts to make its way to vulnerable countries and communities in 2026.

Beyond these procedural milestones for the FRLD, I would like to see advanced discussions about community access for loss and damage funds at COP30. This would enable local actors from climate-impacted communities to directly access funds for addressing the impacts of climate change in their communities. The real experts and knowledge-holders about loss and damage are people impacted by climate change themselves; loss and damage finance can be more effective and equitable if people can access funds themselves.

What's your message for world leaders at COP30?

A strong ethic of multilateralism, collaboration, and a recognition that the stakes could not be higher for securing climate action.

Do you have any tips about climate action that you can share?

There are a lot of everyday ways to integrate learning about climate politics into your everyday - podcasts (like Outrage + Optimism) and books (like Kim Stanley Robinson's Ministry of the Future).