'Climate action: Not charity but justice'

Kathmandu, Sept. 24

Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal has warned that failure to respond to the climate crisis with urgency and seriousness could lead to even greater risks in the future. “Climate action should be treated not as charity, but as justice,” he said in his address to a high-level meeting on climate action and a just transition at the United Nations headquarters on Wednesday.

Stating that fragmented, uncertain and delayed assistance would make it difficult for climate-vulnerable countries to cope with the current crisis, Minister Khanal called on the international community to make a decisive shift from climate commitments to implementation to address the crises caused by climate change.

Calling for a fundamental shift from commitments to implementation, Minister Khanal said climate finance should be adequate, predictable and readily accessible to communities before disasters occur, rather than relying primarily on assistance after disasters strike.

He stressed the need to prioritise climate adaptation, making clear that for countries such as Nepal, adaptation was not an option but a basis for survival.

FM Khanal called for greater investment in universal access to global early-warning systems, reliable technologies suited to mountain ecosystems, climate information services and climate-resilient infrastructure.

Likewise, he further stressed the need to adequately capitalise the Loss and Damage Fund and make it faster, simpler and more accessible. He also said that multilateral development banks should be able to mobilise rapid and affordable finance during disasters.

Highlighting the need for an integrated approach to addressing climate-change impacts from the mountains to the oceans, he called for stronger global efforts to keep the goal of limiting the rise in global temperatures to 1.5°C within reach.

“This is an issue linked to the survival of mountain and coastal communities,” he said.

Referring to the devastating floods that recently struck Nepal, Minister Khanal said the country had suffered significant human and physical losses, with hundreds of people losing their lives and extensive damage caused to homes, infrastructure, agriculture and livelihoods.

Hydropower infrastructure had also suffered serious damage and that development gains achieved through decades of effort had been set back. According to preliminary assessments, Nepal has suffered losses of more than US$5 billion, equivalent to around 15 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product, from recent climate-related disasters, said FM Khanal.

“Nepal did not create this crisis. Nepal’s contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions is less than 0.1 per cent. Yet Nepal is experiencing its impacts disproportionately and repeatedly,” Minister Khanal said.

He said climate-related disasters had become not merely a humanitarian emergency for Nepal, but also a development emergency, a crisis of justice and a serious challenge linked to the survival of communities and future generations.

Recalling the United Nations Secretary-General’s call three years ago from the foothills of Everest to 'stop the madness', he said the warning that the mountains were 'crying out' for help was grounded in science. He said an important question now was whether the international community had listened to that warning with sufficient seriousness, prudence and determination.

“What happens in the Himalayas does not remain confined to the Himalayas. The Himalayas are an integral part of the Earth’s life-support system,” he said.

 

'Collective initiatives to ensure climate justice'

Speaking at the leaders’ meeting of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) on Wednesday on the sidelines of the UNGA, FM Khanal said stronger cooperation between mountainous countries and small island developing states is necessary to amplify the common voice of countries vulnerable to climate change.

Commending Barbados Prime Minister and CVF Chair Mia Amor Mottley for her leadership, Minister Khanal thanked Barbados for effectively raising the concerns of climate-vulnerable countries on the global stage.

“Geographically, Barbados and Nepal are located in two very different parts of the world - one an island nation surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and the other a landlocked mountainous country with the world’s highest peaks,” he said. “Yet, from ecological and existential perspectives, our futures are intrinsically connected.”

Stating that Nepal remained committed to nature-positive economic development, its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and the goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2045, Minister Khanal said the international development system needed to be restructured in five key areas.

As the first priority, he called for accelerating climate-resilient development, saying every infrastructure investment, from transport infrastructure to community-based water supply systems, should be made capable of withstanding climate risks. He said Nepal welcomed the operation of the Lifeline Fund, which provides rapid financial resources when climate-related disasters create severe balance-of-payments pressures.

As the second priority, he called for reforms to the development finance system, stressing that climate-related disasters should not turn into debt crises. Supporting the Bridgetown Initiative and the Vulnerability to Viability Compact advanced under Prime Minister Mottley’s leadership, he called for expanded concessional and grant-based financing and more effective provisions for debt-payment suspension.

As the third priority, he called for greater investment in science-based forecasting and early-warning systems. He said impact-based early-warning systems, real-time satellite data and cross-border data sharing should be expanded from mountain glaciers to the oceans.

As the fourth priority, he stressed the need to accelerate the green and digital transition, saying a just transition from fossil fuels to clean energy was necessary. He said Nepal was ready to contribute to the region’s green transition by expanding clean hydropower and regional electricity transmission networks, adding that this could create new opportunities for young people in the digital economy.

As the fifth priority, FM Khanal stressed the need to make financial support for loss and damage more effective. He called for new and additional grant-based resources for the Loss and Damage Fund. “It is not appropriate to address the suffering caused by disasters through repackaged commercial loans under the Loss and Damage Fund,” he said.

Published in The Rising Nepal on 25 September 2026.