Ensuring funds reach countries most in need, quickly and equitably, is climate finance’s biggest challenge.

In a tense closing plenary, countries protested the lack of finance and new adaptation indicators, amid a failure to include fossil fuels in the final agreement. The hard-won inclusion of the just transition work programme was overshadowed by vague funding promises and the exclusion of critical minerals.

In the aftermath of typhoons Kalmaegi and Fung-wong, mismanaged climate funds and weak infrastructure leave communities exposed to disaster.

Headquartered in typhoon-battered Philippines, the fund will begin disbursing money to countries devastated by extreme climate events starting June 2026. However, smaller countries and civil societies say more is needed to fill the fund.