Delegates from nearly 200 countries kicked the UN Egypt’s climate summit on Sunday with an agreement to talk about compensating poor countries for the mounting damage related to global warming, putting the controversial topic on the agenda for the first time since climate talks began decades ago.
The agreement set a constructive tone for the COP27 summit in the seaside town of Sharm el-Sheikh, where governments hope to keep alive a goal to avert the worst effects of global warming, even as a slew of crises – from a land war in Europe to rampant inflation – diverting the international focus.
For more than a decade, rich countries have rejected official discussions of what is called loss and damage, the term used to describe rich countries that pay out money to help poor countries cope with the effects of global warming. for which they bear little debt.
At COP26 in Glasgow last year, high-income countries, including the United States and the European Union, blocked a proposal for a loss and damage financing agency, instead supporting a three-year dialogue for financing discussions.
But pressure to tackle the problem is mounting as weather conditions intensify, including this year’s floods in Pakistan, which caused economic losses of more than $30 billion and left hundreds of thousands homeless.
“The inclusion of this agenda reflects a sense of solidarity with the victims of climate disasters,” COP27 President Sameh Shoukry told the opening plenary.
He added that the decision created “an institutionally stable space” for discussion of loss and damage financing, and that the talks are intended to lead to a final decision “by 2024 at the latest.”
The issue could heighten diplomatic tensions already exacerbated by Russia’s war against Ukraine, a rise in energy prices and the risks of an economic recession due to inflation.
Negotiations on Saturday night for the adoption of the agenda “were extremely challenging,” said Harjeet Singh, head of global political strategy at the nonprofit Climate Action Network International.
The Bangladesh-based environmental research body, the International Center for Climate Change and Development, said it was “good news” that loss and damage were officially on the agenda.
“Now the real work begins to make finance a reality,” said Saleemul Huq, director of the center and advisor to the Climate Vulnerable Forum group of 58 countries.
Broken promises
Climate talks begin under a cloud of skepticism that world governments are doing enough to tackle global warming.
A United Nations report released last week showed that global emissions are on track to increase by 10.6% by 2030 compared to 2010 levels. Scientists say those emissions will increase by 43% by then. must have fallen to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial temperatures, as envisaged in the 2015 Paris Agreement – the threshold above which climate change threatens to spiral out of control to walk.
Rich countries are also underperforming on their pledge to provide $100 billion a year by 2020 to help developing countries reduce carbon emissions and adapt to climate change, for example by building infrastructure to protect drinking water supplies from rising seas.
And many countries, including the United States and members of the European Union, are calling for increased supply of fossil fuels to help lower energy prices for consumers, a trend that threatens to slow a global shift to cleaner energy.
Despite the increased momentum to address loss and damage from an increase in climate change-induced disasters, COP27 has faced headwinds to raise money – with Western governments’ budgets depleted by massive spending to protect their citizens. protect against the economic consequences of the war in Ukraine.
So far, only two small countries have offered financing for loss and damage. Denmark pledged 100 million Danish kroner and Scotland pledged £2 million ($2.28 million).
By comparison, some research suggests that climate-related losses could reach $580 billion a year by 2030.
During UN negotiations this week, small island nations — which have played an outrageous role in previous UN talks because of their vulnerability to climate change — will propose a UN-hosted “response fund” to pool and distribute cash to countries that affected by disasters.
Others look outside of formal UN negotiations, where any deal requires unanimous approval from all countries and progress can be painfully slow.
The “V20” group of 58 climate vulnerable countries and the group of 7 rich countries will launch a “Global Shield” to strengthen insurance financing and disaster protection. Germany is expected to commit money to the scheme.
“What is needed is a mosaic of approaches,” said Alex Scott, climate diplomacy expert at think tank E3G. Scott said this should also include solving problems with existing UN climate funds, which struggle with years of delays in distributing funding and complex application processes that prevent some poor countries from accessing aid.
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