Nepal is seeking $20 million in climate‑justice compensation after devastating floods triggered by a glacial collapse on August 26. The disaster has claimed more than 1,300 lives and left over 5,000 people missing across Nepal and the Tibetan region, prompting an urgent appeal to the international community.
Scientists attribute the catastrophe to climate change. On 26 August a massive segment of a Himalayan glacier gave way, sending a rapid surge of water and debris into Nepal’s Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts and into neighbouring Tibet. The resulting inundation caused extensive loss of life and infrastructure.
Nepal’s Finance and Environment ministries have submitted a joint request to the United Nations for $20 million under the UN Loss‑and‑Damage Fund, which was established in 2022 pursuant to the 2015 Paris Agreement. The fund, however, currently faces a $2.8 billion shortfall as it prepares to roll out its first recovery projects.
Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal stressed that assistance should be viewed through the lens of climate justice rather than traditional aid or charity. “Support for Nepal should not be seen from an angle of aid or charity, but should be seen from the perspective of climate justice,” he told AFP. President Ramchandra Paudel echoed the sentiment in a national address, calling on the world to listen to ecologically vulnerable nations and take concrete action to secure climate justice.
Collective frustration
Nepal accounts for less than 0.1 % of global greenhouse‑gas emissions and generates the bulk of its electricity from renewable sources. Its location on the Himalayas, however, makes it exceptionally susceptible to extreme weather events. Over the past decade the region has experienced rapid warming and accelerated glacial loss. Across the Hindu Kush Himalaya, ice loss accelerated by 65 % between 2011‑2020 compared with the previous decade. United Nations research indicates that Nepalese glaciers have lost roughly one‑third of their ice volume in about three decades due to global warming.
Tanuja Pandey, a Nepalese climate lawyer and activist, said the demand for climate justice is driven by a collective sense of frustration. “People here feel the world often pays attention to Nepal only when a climate disaster becomes impossible to ignore. It is deeply painful that global attention intensifies when headlines report thousands dead or missing, yet ultimately fails to generate urgency to fight climate change,” she told Al Jazeera. Shreya KC, a 28‑year‑old climate campaigner, expressed similar sentiments. “My hometown is in Solukhumbu in eastern Nepal, a mountainous district that is also home to Mount Everest and lies downstream. After the glacial collapse two weeks ago, people in my region have realised that such events could now occur anywhere in Nepal as the Himalayas warm and glaciers melt faster,” she said.
Is there such a thing as ‘climate justice’?
Preliminary estimates from Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority put the economic damage at roughly $2.56 billion in property, housing and infrastructure.
Joyeeta Gupta, a professor of Environment and Development in the Global South at the University of Amsterdam, notes that claiming compensation under the concept of climate justice is legally complex. The United Nations defines climate justice as “the moral and ethical principle that seeks to address the disproportionate impact of climate change on vulnerable communities and future generations.” Gupta elaborated, “I define it as a system of justice where others’ perspectives are taken into account, and no harm is caused to others.” She added that Nepal’s minimal emissions contrast sharply with the severe climate impacts it now endures, providing a strong moral basis for its claim.
Historically, the discourse on climate compensation existed before 1990, when large emitters were considered responsible for harms suffered by vulnerable nations. However, the term “compensation” later disappeared from international climate treaties, which shifted focus toward assistance and capacity‑building for developing countries.
In July 2025 an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) affirmed that all nations have binding legal duties under international law to prevent significant climate harm. The opinion further states that states breaching their climate obligations may be required to make full reparations, including financial compensation to “injured states” affected by climate change caused by other countries. Although the ICJ opinion is not legally binding, Gupta notes, it constitutes a significant statement in international law that could bolster Nepal’s diplomatic appeal for climate justice and compensation.
No climate justice without internal justice
Prime Minister Balendra Shah, a former rapper who assumed office in March after youth‑led protests, is scheduled to address the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York on 24 September. Climate justice is expected to be a focal point of his speech.
Activists argue that immediate financial resources are more critical than diplomatic declarations. Shreya KC stressed, “So much of our money allotted for healthcare, education and to transition into a more developed nation is now being spent on fighting climate change. Countries that drive emissions, especially from the global north, need to commit more money to the UN’s Loss‑and‑Damage Fund. Money from that fund should be disbursed to vulnerable communities in need, not as a loan but as compensation for bearing the brunt of climate change.”
Tanuja Pandey noted that this is not the first climate disaster to strike Nepal and criticised the new government for failing to prioritise climate action in its budget. While politicians are appealing for international climate justice, she said, they must also address the country’s internal development model to combat climate change effectively. “There is no climate justice without internal justice within the country itself,” she added. She urged partners and investors to treat climate resilience as a core component of development, warning that “Investing in Nepal without investing in sustainability is simply a bad investment.”
On a national day of mourning, President Paudel commemorated the more than 1,300 confirmed fatalities and called for unity. “This is not a time for division. Nor is it a time to blame one another or become entangled in political disputes and confrontation,” he said. “This is a time to demonstrate national unity and solidarity. It is also a time for reconstruction, rehabilitation and economic recovery.”
Gupta pointed out that the biggest hurdle for Nepal is establishing a legal precedent for climate‑change compensation. “It was recently a glacial collapse in the country, but soon, it will become a bigger issue as time goes on because the monsoon patterns will change, the sea level will rise,” she warned. She noted that many other vulnerable nations, especially island states facing submersion, confront similar threats, which could make wealthy nations reluctant to set a compensation precedent for fear of future liability.
Nevertheless, she said, the plight of countries like Nepal provides a powerful argument to persuade the global community to accelerate the phase‑out of fossil fuels and intensify climate‑change mitigation efforts.
