New Delhi: Nepal is considering sending Prime Minister Balendra ‘Balen’ Shah to the United Nations General Assembly to push its demand for climate compensation after devastating floods killed at least 1,127 people and left around 3,900 missing.

Kathmandu is seeking to turn the disaster into a larger global climate justice issue, arguing that countries highly vulnerable to climate change should not be left to shoulder the financial burden of disasters linked to a warming planet.

Nepal's Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal has identified China, the United States and India as the three largest current greenhouse gas emitters and said they have a responsibility towards countries that contribute comparatively little to global emissions but face severe climate-related consequences.

The possible visit by Shah would give Nepal a higher-profile platform to make that case at the UNGA, which begins its general debate later this month.

The move comes after catastrophic flooding swept through the Bhotekoshi river basin in Nepal's Bagmati province on August 26. Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading were among the worst-affected districts, with homes, roads, bridges and hydropower infrastructure suffering extensive damage.

The scale of the devastation has prompted Nepal to describe the disaster as a ‘Himalayan Tsunami’.

Nepal shifts from aid appeal to climate compensation

Khanal has said Kathmandu wants to change the way it approaches disasters of this magnitude, moving away from a model centred only on humanitarian assistance and towards what it describes as climate justice and compensation.

Nepal has formally approached the UN-backed Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage, seeking urgent financial support for the flood disaster.

The request was jointly signed by Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle and Forests and Agriculture Minister Geeta Chaudhary.

The government has also begun briefing foreign governments and donors through its diplomatic missions about the country's immediate and longer-term requirements.

Nepal is seeking support not only for relief operations but also for resettlement, reconstruction and specialised disaster-response assistance.

The government has cited requirements including tunnel-rescue teams, forensic specialists and Bailey bridges.

Finance Minister Wagle has estimated that Nepal could need around $4 billion to $5 billion to rebuild infrastructure destroyed by the floods.

The figure represents close to 10 per cent of the country's economy, underlining the financial pressure created by the disaster.

Khanal has argued that the compensation question should not be treated as a conventional appeal for donations.

Nepal's position is that nations that have contributed relatively little to global warming are disproportionately exposed to its consequences, particularly in the Himalayan region.

India’s emissions debate complicates Nepal’s climate case

Nepal's decision to name India alongside China and the US is likely to add another dimension to the climate debate.

In absolute terms, China, the US and India rank among the world's largest greenhouse gas emitters.

However, their emissions profiles differ substantially when measured on a per-person basis and when historical emissions are taken into account.

India's per-capita emissions remain significantly below those of China and the US.

New Delhi has also consistently maintained that climate responsibilities cannot be assessed solely through present-day total emissions.

Historical emissions, per-capita contributions and the development needs of emerging economies are central to India's position in international climate negotiations.

There is also still a scientific question surrounding the precise causes of the Nepal disaster.

Initial assessments have pointed towards a massive rock-and-ice avalanche near the Nepal-China border, while unstable glaciers and rapidly changing Himalayan conditions have also been considered possible contributing factors.

Establishing how much of an individual extreme event can be directly attributed to human-induced climate change requires detailed scientific analysis. Nepal's broader argument, however, is that its mountainous geography leaves it particularly vulnerable to glacier-related hazards, unstable slopes and climate-driven changes despite its negligible contribution to global emissions.

The floods have also renewed scrutiny of infrastructure and disaster preparedness in the fragile Himalayan region.

For Kathmandu, the UNGA could therefore become more than a diplomatic appearance.

If Shah travels to New York, Nepal is expected to use the international platform to highlight the scale of the disaster, its reconstruction burden and its demand that climate-vulnerable nations receive financial support for losses they are increasingly unable to absorb on their own.

The proposed shift from aid to compensation marks an increasingly assertive position by Nepal as it seeks to make the devastation caused by the floods part of the wider global debate over climate responsibility.