This chapter explores loss and damage knowledge politics in Antigua and Barbuda, one of the few countries with national legislation referring specifically to loss and damage. At the twenty-seventh Conference of the Parties in 2022, which achieved a breakthrough agreement to establish a loss and damage fund, the country played a critical role as chair of the Alliance of Small Island States. The chapter traces the role of international influences and national institutions in shaping national loss and damage policies, and finds that there are knowledge politics at play when it comes to loss and damage in Antigua and Barbuda. These include conflicting incentives for deepening the understanding of loss and damage: while a better understanding of future scenarios aids better development planning, it can also alarm large investors (often from the Global North) about climate risks, with this potentially leading to raising fears about stranded assets and capital flight. The chapter is based on twelve semi-structured interviews with national and international policy actors, civil servants, and non-governmental organization actors in Antigua and Barbuda, textual analysis, participant observations, and first-hand experiences of international climate negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The book’s concluding chapter draws together insights from across the empirical case studies, showcasing the diversity of outcomes on national policy action on loss and damage. By offering a comparison between the different Global South countries studied, the chapter identifies patterns with respect to how policymakers and other stakeholders are approaching policy development, adoption, and innovation. It finds that Antigua and Barbuda, Tuvalu, and Bangladesh have moved the furthest in terms of policy development and innovation, while Ethiopia and The Bahamas have been slower to engage with loss and damage at the national level and Peru and Chile are only starting to understand the relevance of loss and damage for national policymaking. The chapter argues that while the very concept of loss and damage is an international construct, its meaning is still being contested and reconstituted within and across scales of governance. The chapter ends by outlining a research agenda for further studies in the context of the national turn in loss and damage governance.