COP27: Deal to establish loss and damage fund struck

NEW DELHI: History was made for vulnerable countries and civic society which have been calling for funding for decades, diplomats from over 190 countries on Sunday struck a deal to set up a loss and damage fund to pay for climate-related damage, officials said, as the two-week-long United Nations climate talks (COP27) drew to a close on after two days of overrun.

But fossil fuels remain elephant in the room, say climate negotiators. Hailing the decision to establish a loss and damage fund and to operationalize it in the coming period, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the conclusion of COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt said: "From the beginning, this conference has been driven by two overriding themes: justice and ambition. Justice for those on the frontlines who did so little to cause the crisis – including the victims of the recent floods in Pakistan that inundated one-third of the country."

Taking the lead, Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at COP27 announced a 5 million pound funding to tackle loss and damage caused by climate change in developing countries. The Alliance of Small Island States, a group of low-lying and island countries, had proposed a multilateral fund organized under the UN climate change convention which would be established over the next year.

Harjeet Singh, Head of Global Political Strategy, Climate Action Network International, said that with the creation of a new Loss and Damage Fund, COP27 has sent a warning shot to polluters that they can no longer go scot-free with their climate destruction.

"From now on, they will have to pay up for the damages they cause and are accountable to the people who are facing supercharged storms, devastating floods and rising seas. Countries must now work together to ensure that the new fund can become fully operational and respond to the most vulnerable people and communities who are facing the brunt of climate crisis," an elated Singh said.

According to the Loss and Damage Collaboration (L&DC), a group of 100 plus practitioners, researchers, activists, and decision-makers from the global South and North, COP27 had a focus on Loss and Damage like never before. Given the drumbeat of climate impacts coming into COP – one third of Pakistan flooded, devastating drought and famine in Kenya, heatwaves and drought across Europe and southern China, Hurricanes in Cuba and the US, glaciers disappearing and sea level rise and coastal erosion forcing Pacific Islanders to relocate.

"Developing countries were more aligned than ever before – in pre-meetings and throughout COP all 134 countries in the G77 and China spoke with one voice to demand climate justice. And civil society provided the flank with protests around the world and in the COP venue itself. And, finally, grudgingly, developed countries, with leadership from the European Union, agreed to establish a Loss and Damage fund," said L&DC in a statement.

Disappointingly there was pushback against a definitive call to phase out all fossil fuels – blocked by Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran. (IANS)

Also Read: COP27 approves landmark 'loss & damage' fund, Indian climate experts welcome deal

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