Now hiring: A leader for Cop28's climate disaster fund

New $400,000-a-year director will lead politically sensitive loss and damage fund likely to be worth billions of dollars

Huge waves lash a coastal road during a typhoon in China. The new fund is meant to cover effects of climate change where they can no longer be stopped. AP

A climate fund set up in the UAE is seeking its first executive director to oversee a politically sensitive war chest that could pay out billions of dollars to “hardest-hit” countries.

The successful candidate, paid about $400,000 a year, will run the fund responding to floods, hurricanes and other effects of climate change, known as loss and damage in UN terminology.

They are likely to be caught in a tug-of-war between the vulnerable nations on the front line of climate change and the donors expected to foot the bill.

Campaigners calling for a loss and damage fund held a demonstration during Cop28 at Dubai's Expo City. Pawan Singh / The National

Even the LinkedIn job advert has only gone public after difficult negotiations on its wording, since the fund was created at the Cop28 summit in Dubai.

The loss and damage fund is “a new channel to assist developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change”, the advert says.

It says the fund's new head will “steer its operations towards scale and maturity”, but does not indicate how much financial muscle it will have.

Billion-dollar question

An earlier draft backed by some diplomats said the candidate should have a “vision to reach several billion dollars annually”.

“We want to have the best calibre … this is a crucial point for anybody who wants to apply for a job,” said Egyptian diplomat Mohamed Nasr.

But delegates from rich countries, including the US, warned against going beyond what has been agreed in difficult talks on funding.

A deal to create the loss and damage fund was one of the outcomes of Cop28 in Dubai. Pawan Singh / The National

A deal to create the fund was gavelled through on day one of Cop28 in an early win for the UAE presidency after months of preparations.

Early pledges to the fund included $100 million from the UAE, about $400 million from European countries, and $17.5 million from the US.

Cop28 President Dr Sultan Al Jaber told its first board meeting in April that the early pledges were a “good start” but “not enough”.

Funding debate

Key issues remain unresolved such as who will be eligible for the fund when a disaster such as a flood or a hurricane strikes.

While the global south wants a generous fund available to all, rich donors have called for narrower payouts to particularly hard-hit countries.

Loss and damage occurs when neither cutting emissions (mitigation) nor preparing for the worst (adaptation) is enough to prevent climate disaster.

Even the fund's name was disputed. It is formally the “fund for responding to loss and damage”, but the US, eager not to give a sense of paying compensation, has called it a “fund for climate impact response”.

“I'm scared if the ad is taking us this long, how long is it going to take to actually do the selection?” said Peter Abraham, a delegate from Antigua and Barbuda, at a board meeting last month.

“We are being watched worldwide by people who are being affected,” said Mr Abraham, one of 26 members of a board hosted in the Philippines that also includes delegates from the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Deep expertise

The advert says the new director must have “deep expertise, knowledge and experience relating to climate financing” and “an ability to provide strategic leadership”.

They must also have 15 years of relevant experience, a master's degree, an “impeccable reputation” for honesty and knowledge of the UN climate process.

The fund will initially use the World Bank's offices and pay its new boss a similar salary to the bank's vice presidents, typically about $400,000 a year.

The issue of finance is expected to dominate the Cop29 summit in Azerbaijan this November. Pawan Singh / The National

The aim is to have a shortlist of candidates by the time of a September board meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan, the host of Cop29.

An appointment could be announced during Cop29 in November, with the issue of finance expected to loom large over the summit.

Island states will ask the world to pledge trillions of dollars in new climate funding, going far beyond a previous $100 billion annual goal.