COP31 SIDE-EVENT: From research to results

Monday, 16 November 2026, 6.30-8.00 PM (GMT+3) DanChurchAid, Lund University and HelpAge International hosts a side event during COP31 in Alanya. The event will convene researchers to share key findings from country and regional studies, and invite Parties and non Party stakeholders to reflect on their implications for both negotiations and implementation.

The need for greater focus on loss and damage in climate finance:

Climate change is intensifying, and climate-related disasters are becoming more severe and frequent. Even with extensive climate adaptation efforts, some losses and damages can no longer be prevented.

The impacts are felt most acutely in vulnerable communities in the Global South, despite having contributed the least to global emissions. At the same time, climate-related losses and damages risk exacerbating existing poverty and inequality. When vulnerable communities repeatedly lose their homes, crops and infrastructure, it becomes increasingly difficult to rebuild and invest in future development.

There is a need to turn research into action. This event focuses on how research can inform and strengthen negotiations on climate finance. Better documentation of climate-related losses and damages, alongside the inclusion of local experiences and perspectives, is essential to ensuring that climate finance addresses actual needs and is both effective and equitable.

Loss and Damage refers to the negative impacts of climate change that have already occurred or can no longer be avoided through mitigation and climate adaptation.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), some ecosystems and communities have already reached the limits of what effective climate adaptation can achieve. This is particularly evident in Small Island Developing States (SIDS), where rising sea levels threaten settlements, livelihoods and the very existence of some communities.

Loss and Damage can be divided into two categories:

Economic losses and damages

Destruction of infrastructure and homes.
Loss of agricultural crops and sources of income.
Economic costs associated with rebuilding after climate-related disasters.

Non-economic losses and damages

Loss of human lives and biodiversity.
Loss of cultural identity and traditions.
Loss of connection to specific geographical areas and local communities.

Livestream

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Programme

Welcome by Co-Organizers

Introduction by the Moderator
– Mr. Mattias Söderberg, Climate adviser at DanChurchAid

Research teasers

Navn på research
– Mr. Henry Neufeldt /Fatemeh Bakhtiari (UNEP), Head of Impact Assessment and Adaptation at UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre

Generationally Inclusive Climate Justice
– Mr. Hari Krishna Nibhanpudi, Global Climate Change Adviser at HelpAge International

Navn på research
– Ms. Emily Boyd, Professor at Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS)M

Learnings on Responses to Loss and Damage & Assessing Institutional Arrangements from National to Local Levels
– Ms. Lily Salloum Lindegaard, Senior Researcher at DIIS – Danish Institute for International Studies & IPCC AR7 Lead Author

Navn på research
– Mr. Espen Rønneberg, Senior Adviser on Climate Change Multilateral Agreements at SPC – The Pacific Community

Reflections

FRLD Board member – Jette Michelsen DK (suggested)
Civil society – Brenda LD collaboration (suggested)
WIM EXcom member – Kolthoum, Botswana (suggested)

Questions from the floor (måske det skal være efter research)

Synthesis & Closing reflection

Concluding remark by IPCC Lead author

Reception & Informal Conversations

DanChurchAid
Mr. Mattias Söderberg
Email: msd@dca.dk
Telefon: +45 29 700609

HelpAge International
Mr. Hari Krishna Nibhanpudi
Email: hari.nibanupudi@helpage.org
Telefon: +91 40 27417549

Lund University
Ms. Emily Boyd
Email: emily.boyd@lucsus.lu.se
Telefon: +46 703581839

Research made by co-hosts

Left behind at the frontline: Older fishers and climate finance in South and Southeast Asia

When older fishers lose their coastline, they risk losing more than livelihoods: identity, belonging and generations of ecological knowledge are also at stake. This HelpAge International paper explores what loss and damage negotiations can learn from their experiences – and how climate finance can respond to losses that money alone cannot measure.

Nødhjælpsarbejdere hjælper katastroferamte efter de voldsomme oversvømmelser den 26. august 2026.

Loss and Damage: Experiences from the ground

DCA has been monitoring since 2019 the share of finance channelled to projects addressing climate change related loss and damage, capturing response and recovery from climate related disasters, reconstruction, and other actions to address irreversible losses and non-economic effects.
The report ‘Loss and Damage: Experiences from the ground’ presents an assessment of DCA’s 2021 project portfolio as well as key takeaways to inform the operationalization of loss and damage funding.

Learnings on Responses to Loss and Damage

Loss and Damage finance has reached the ground in dedicated programming to respond to losses and damages – including in most vulnerable settings affected by extreme poverty, livelihood stress, forced mobility and conflict.
Drawing directly on experience from program formulation, implementation and learning across 16 initiatives, this study provides new findings that can strengthen loss and damage financing arrangements, programming approaches and organisational learning for future loss and damage response and related humanitarian, development and adaptation efforts.

L&D Institutional Arrangements Photo.png

Loss and Damage: Assessing Institutional Arrangements from National to Local Levels

Across diverse climate and development contexts, country governments are developing institutional arrangements to assess, report on and respond to losses and damages on the ground. This six-country study assesses loss and damage-related institutional developments, including opportunities and gaps, in four aspects: (1) Institutional arrangements, coordination and participatory processes; (2) Data sharing, reporting and technical systems, (3) Operational capacity, (4) Learning and scaling processes. The study includes data and insights from national to local levels and spanning state to non-state actors. Findings aim to guide governance reforms and strengthen countries’ ability to work with emerging international L&D instruments.