Nepal estimates that recovering from the devastating August floods will cost at least $4.71 billion. The United Nations’ Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage has provisionally set aside 21.6 million dollars in response, an allocation that covers only a small portion of the country’s estimated climate damages fund requirements. This highlights the climate justice gap between the scale of losses vulnerable countries face and the international support available to rebuild.

The fund’s board approved the decision at an extraordinary meeting on October 22, 2026. Of the amount set aside, $20 million is intended for potential assistance to Nepal, while $1.6 million is earmarked for oversight costs. Nepal must still complete the funding request and project approval process before the money can be disbursed. The decision is the fund’s first country-specific emergency response. Its immediate value will depend on how quickly the proposed assistance can be converted into funding for recovery work.

Reconstruction Costs Put Pressure on Nepal’s Finances

The August floods affected communities along the Bhotekoshi–Trishuli river system and damaged infrastructure in the affected region. Nepal’s estimated recovery requirements include the costs of rebuilding damaged assets and restoring services disrupted by the disaster.

For the government, reconstruction creates demands beyond the immediate response. Roads, bridges and other public infrastructure need repairs, while affected households face the expense of restoring homes and livelihoods. These costs compete with existing public spending priorities, making external assistance important to the recovery effort.

The provisional $20 million allocation for Nepal is less than 0.5% of its estimated reconstruction requirements. The funding can contribute to selected needs, but the country will have to secure substantially more money to meet the overall bill.

Climate Damages Fund to Address Climate-related Losses

The Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage was established under the UN climate process at COP27 in 2022 and operationalised at COP28 in 2023. It was created to help vulnerable developing countries deal with the consequences of climate change that cannot be adequately addressed through adaptation alone.

These consequences include damage to infrastructure and livelihoods, as well as losses that are harder to value financially, such as harm to cultural heritage and ecosystems. The fund is intended to provide a dedicated channel for addressing such impacts. Nepal’s allocation puts that mandate into practice. However, a decision to reserve funds is only one stage in the process. The country must submit its proposal, and the relevant procedures must be completed before the allocation becomes money available for recovery projects.

The board has agreed to consider an exceptional route for Nepal’s request outside the fund’s regular application cycle. This could help avoid some of the delays associated with a standard funding round, although the actual disbursement timeline remains crucial.

International Demand Exceeds the Fund’s Resources

The funding gap is not unique to Nepal. According to figures reported in the October 2026 news report supplied for this article, the fund had received 176 requests from 119 countries, worth approximately $2.8 billion. Pledges amounted to around $822 million.

The disparity raises questions about the fund’s capacity to respond to multiple emergencies and other loss and damage needs. Even where a request qualifies for consideration, the resources available may not match the amount sought.

The Nepal decision also illustrates why the terms used in climate finance announcements matter. A pledge is a commitment to provide money; an allocation sets aside funds for a specified purpose; a disbursement means the money has actually been transferred. For communities awaiting assistance, the final stage is the one that enables work to begin.

What Happens Next?

Nepal’s recovery will require financing from several sources, as the UN fund’s allocation is far below the estimated reconstruction bill. The immediate task is to complete the procedures required to access the proposed funding and identify the projects it will support.

The fund will also need to demonstrate that its emergency process can deliver assistance without creating unnecessary delays. Its ability to mobilise additional contributions will determine how much support it can offer as requests accumulate.

Nepal’s case provides an early measure of the distance between the scale of climate-related damage and the financial resources currently available through this mechanism. The provisional allocation is a concrete step, but its contribution to recovery will become clear only when the money reaches the projects and communities for which it is intended.

Climate-related disasters disrupted schooling for at least 171 million students worldwide in 2025, affecting one in every 10 school-age children, according to a new UNICEF report that warns of growing threats to learning, educational equality and future economic prospects.

The report, Learning Interrupted: Global Snapshot of Climate-Related School Disruptions in 2025, released on September 10, analysed data from 106 countries and territories. It found that storms, floods, heatwaves, droughts and wildfires caused school closures, shortened teaching hours, reduced attendance and shifts to remote learning.

The findings underline how climate change is emerging as a threat to educational continuity, particularly in countries where schools lack the infrastructure and resources to withstand extreme weather.

Storms and floods interrupt learning

Storms were the leading cause of climate-related school disruptions in 2025, affecting 109 million students globally. Floods affected at least 70 million, while heatwaves disrupted schooling for approximately 50 million children. These figures overlap and should not be added together as separate groups.

In Pakistan, severe monsoon flooding in August delayed the return to school for more than 28 million students. In Egypt, a powerful Khamsin wind-and-dust storm prompted a nationwide suspension of classes for one day, affecting more than 28 million students.

The problem extends beyond individual disasters. Forty countries experienced multiple rounds of climate-related school disruptions during 2025, exposing students to repeated interruptions throughout the academic year.

Floods can damage classrooms, sanitation facilities and learning materials, while extreme heat can make classrooms unsafe and undermine students’ ability to concentrate. Even after schools reopen, damaged infrastructure, disrupted transport and household financial pressures can prevent children from returning to regular attendance.

A growing threat to educational equality

Three-quarters of the students affected in 2025 lived in low- and lower-middle-income countries, where education systems often have fewer resources to prepare for disasters and restore teaching afterwards, UNICEF found.

The World Bank’s 2024 report, Choosing Our Future: Education for Climate Action, offers further evidence of the long-term challenge. It estimated that 400 million students globally experienced school closures due to extreme weather between 2022 and 2024. In affected schools in low-income countries, students lost approximately 45 instructional days between January 2022 and June 2024, compared with around six days in high-income countries.

These interruptions can compound existing educational disadvantages. Students from wealthier households may have access to private tutoring, digital devices and alternative learning arrangements. Children from poorer households may lack internet connectivity, electricity or suitable spaces to study during closures.

South Asia’s exposure highlights the challenge

UNICEF’s previous assessment, covering 2024, recorded at least 242 million students experiencing climate-related school disruptions across 85 countries and territories. South Asia was the most affected region, with 128 million students impacted. Heatwaves affected an estimated 171 million students worldwide that year.

India was among the countries affected by heat-related educational disruptions. In April 2024, extreme heat contributed to school interruptions across Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, the Philippines and Thailand, affecting at least 118 million children collectively. The figure represents the five-country group, not India alone.

The 2024 and 2025 totals should not be interpreted as a direct year-on-year decline. The reports covered different sets of countries and climate events, and the number of recorded disruptions depends on the incidents identified in each assessment.

Climate-resilient schools become a priority

UNICEF estimates that disruptions experienced in 2025 could cost affected students at least US$200 billion in lifetime earnings through lost learning and widening educational inequalities. This is a projection of potential future losses, rather than income already lost.

The World Bank has argued that relatively modest investments can help schools adapt. Its 2024 analysis estimated that a one-time investment of US$18.51 per child could help mitigate learning losses through measures such as improving classroom temperatures, strengthening school infrastructure and training teachers.

Aerial view showing significant flood damage in a residential neighborhood with inundated streets and homes.Image credit:Pexels

UNICEF is calling for climate resilience to be incorporated into education planning, alongside investment in stronger school buildings, emergency preparedness and systems that allow teaching to continue during disasters.

As extreme weather increasingly interrupts academic calendars, education systems must prepare not only to enrol children but also to protect their ability to learn. Climate-resilient infrastructure, early-warning systems and plans for educational continuity will be essential to ensuring that disasters do not deepen existing inequalities in access to education.

India has scored just two out of a possible 32 points for integrating health into its climate commitments, placing it among the lowest-performing countries in a new global assessment of national climate plans. The findings highlight a significant gap between climate policy and public health in a country grappling with severe air pollution and growing exposure to climate-related hazards.

The Healthy NDC Scorecard, published on October 14 by the Global Climate and Health Alliance (GCHA), assessed the climate plans of 132 countries that submitted their 2035 commitments to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change before August 1, 2026. Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) outline the climate actions countries intend to undertake under the Paris Agreement.

India’s score of 2 out of 32 indicates that its latest climate commitment does not adequately recognise the connections between climate change, air quality and human health. Japan and New Zealand received the same score, placing all three among the lowest-scoring countries in the assessment.

The findings are particularly significant for India because the country continues to face a substantial burden of air-pollution-related deaths. The scorecard cites State of Global Air data indicating 186.2 air-pollution deaths per 100,000 people in India, underscoring the scale of the public health challenge.

Health missing from climate planning

The scorecard evaluates national climate commitments across eight categories: health impacts, air pollution, health-sector action, health co-benefits, just transition, integrated governance, economics and finance, and monitoring and implementation.

Each category carries a maximum of four points. Together, they assess whether governments recognise the health consequences of climate change and pollution, outline measures to address them, provide for implementation and monitoring, and connect climate action with wider public health benefits.

India’s scorecard records zero points in six categories: health impacts, air pollution, health-sector action, health co-benefits, just transition, and economics and finance. It receives one point for integrated governance and one for monitoring and implementation.

The assessment also identifies India among the countries that do not refer to air-pollution considerations in their NDCs, despite its high air-pollution mortality burden. The report further states that India’s emissions-reduction targets have been assessed by Climate Action Tracker as not aligned with the Paris Agreement.

These findings suggest that the challenge extends beyond setting emissions targets. Climate commitments also need to address how rising temperatures, deteriorating air quality and extreme weather affect people, and how governments will monitor and finance measures to reduce those risks.

Developing countries lead the rankings

The results show that stronger integration of health into climate planning is possible. Colombia topped the assessment with 29 points, followed by Nigeria with 25 and Cambodia with 24. Paraguay and Timor-Leste completed the top five, scoring 22 points each.

India Scores Just 2 Out of 32 for Integrating Health into Climate Commitments. Image credit:NDC Scorecard

Notably, 19 of the 20 highest-scoring countries were low- and middle-income economies. Colombia’s performance demonstrates how health considerations can be incorporated more comprehensively into national climate commitments.

However, the report cautions against interpreting a higher health score as evidence that a country is doing enough to reduce emissions. Nigeria, for example, combines a high score for health integration with strong climate ambition, while several other high-emitting economies have not matched their attention to health with sufficiently ambitious emissions-reduction targets.

The European Union scored 12, while China, Brazil and the United Kingdom scored nine, seven and nine respectively. The assessment found that these and other major emitters continued to fall short of the emissions reductions needed to protect health.

The findings illustrate two related requirements for effective climate policy: governments must recognise and address the health consequences of climate change, while also reducing emissions sufficiently to limit future warming.

Air pollution offers an immediate opportunity

The GCHA report identifies reductions in short-lived climate pollutants as an opportunity to deliver simultaneous climate and health benefits. These include black carbon, methane, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and tropospheric ozone, which contribute to warming and, in several cases, harm human health through air pollution.

Only five countries — Cambodia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Paraguay — included targets to reduce black carbon in their climate commitments, according to the assessment.

Reducing these pollutants can slow near-term warming while improving air quality and reducing associated health risks. The report argues that these measures can generate benefits within relatively short periods, alongside the longer-term necessity of cutting carbon dioxide emissions.

For India, the absence of air-pollution considerations from its assessed NDC represents a missed opportunity to connect climate action with an existing public health priority. Integrating air-quality targets into climate planning could help policymakers address pollution and climate risks through a more coordinated approach.

Finance remains a critical challenge

The scorecard also highlights the gap between climate commitments and the resources required to implement them. Citing the latest State of Global Air Quality Funding report, the GCHA says outdoor air-quality funding receives less than one per cent of development funding, despite air pollution’s estimated economic costs amounting to five per cent of global gross domestic product through health impacts, lost productivity and reduced life expectancy.

The report argues that countries need adequate finance to translate national commitments into measures that protect communities. This is especially important for developing economies facing substantial climate risks while having fewer resources to implement adaptation and health-protection measures.

With the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31) approaching, the GCHA identifies climate finance as a key issue for international negotiations. It also stresses the importance of maintaining commitments to a just transition away from fossil fuels, which has implications for workers, communities and public health.

For India, the scorecard provides a benchmark against which future climate commitments can be assessed. Its findings point to the need for stronger recognition of health impacts, explicit attention to air pollution, better coordination across sectors, and clearer provisions for financing and monitoring implementation.

The assessment does not measure the full extent of India’s climate or public health policies; it evaluates how health considerations are reflected in the country’s submitted climate commitment. Nevertheless, its central message is clear: climate plans need to do more than promise emissions reductions. They must also demonstrate how climate action will protect people’s health.