Our work
The Loss & Damage Policy Institute
A new initiative working to ensure that finance and policy for climate-induced loss and damage deliver real impact for affected communities.
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The problem
Climate change is causing devastating impacts in low and middle-income countries. Storms, floods, droughts, and heatwaves are causing widespread loss & damage (L&D) including the loss of lives, health, homes, infrastructure, and livelihoods. L&D is already estimated to cost hundreds of billions of dollars each year, and will likely rise to the trillions annually by 2050.
Despite doing little to cause climate change, low and middle income countries and communities must increasingly invest in responding to more frequent and severe extreme weather events. However, they often lack the resources, capacity, and evidence needed to respond effectively and safeguard the needs of the most climate-vulnerable people. Responses to L&D are often paid for out of pocket by those most affected—the poorest people around the world.
Why now? A window of opportunity
The newly-established Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) offers an opportunity for developing countries to receive funding to address Loss & Damage. The FRLD's start-up phase, the Barbados Implementation Modalities (BIM), opened in December 2025 with an initial $250 million to be allocated to the first projects and programmes.
The coming months present a rare opportunity to shape how L&D funding flows are allocated. By advocating for L&D investments that focus on impact, equity, and accountability, we can help set norms that can determine how billions in future L&D finance are allocated. These early decisions will influence whether the Fund is a tool for justice, or another climate finance mechanism that fails to reach those most in need.
Our work
We work to ensure that finance and policy deliver real impact for people affected by loss and damage.
Evidence
We synthesise research across climate adaptation, humanitarian response, and development economics to identify impactful solutions for responding to loss and damage.
Partnership-based support
We work directly with LMIC governments and civil society to design and implement effective, equitable L&D policy and programmes, ensuring they can access FRLD funding and deliver meaningful support on the ground.
Advocacy and accountability
We advocate for an FRLD that is transparent, impact-driven, and accountable to affected people. We support governments to design and implement implement evidence-based L&D policies and programmes.
The team
Sadie DeCoste, Founder and Director
Sadie DeCoste is a climate change policy advocate, campaigner, and researcher with a focus on loss and damage. She recently completed the Charity Entrepreneurship Incubation Programme. She is a co-founder of the Loss and Damage Youth Coalition and has attended the UN Climate negotiations as a civil society observer and advocate since 2017. She previously campaigned for climate reparations, coordinated Climate Action Network's working group on Adaptation and Loss and Damage, contributed to project design at a climate finance consultancy, and was one of the first employees of the Green Climate Fund's Independent Evaluation Unit. She conducted her MSc research on the governance of loss and damage from the 2022 Pakistan floods.
Meredith Hess, Strategic Advisor
Meredith Hess is an interdisciplinary water security specialist and has worked in research, humanitarian and development implementation, and nonprofit operations at Mercy Corps, the World Resources Institute, and Habitat for Humanity International on issues of climate adaptation, energy access, and water security. In her most recent role as a Senior Water Security Advisor at Mercy Corps, Meredith supported country and program teams in developing water security strategies, led concept note development for new initiatives, established the agency's first-ever Evidence and Learning Agenda for water security, and led the technical implementation of programs. Her research while at Oxford explored the role of earth observation data of surface water area variability in predicting crop yield anomalies in Mexico.
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