UN climate conference COP27 makes historic decision on Loss and Damage fund
EU and UK have been extremely disappointed with the Sharm El Sheikh package, while India has termed the decision ‘historic’ saying that ‘the world has waited far too long for this’
The UN Climate Conference (COP27) in Egypt’s Sharm El Sheikh, which saw polarised debates on responsibility and accountability among the global North and South, made history on Sunday morning with a decision to create a Loss and Damage fund which will provide support to developing countries in efforts to avert, minimise and address loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change in the light of continued global warming.
Environmental experts said it is a significant breakthrough that acknowledges the impact of climate change particularly warming of 1.1 degree C till now on people’s lives and livelihoods. The decision on Loss and Damage fund states that keeping the global average temperature rise to below 1.5 degree C will be essential to limiting future loss and damage and expressed alarm that Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has concluded that the gravity, scope and frequency of loss and damage will continue to increase with every additional fraction of a degree of temperature increase.
It has decided to establish a transitional committee which will decide the modalities, sources etc which will be considered at COP28 in November–December 2023. The Transitional Committee will have 23 members, comprising 10 members from developed country Parties and 13 members from developing country Parties. The Committee will consider (a) Establishing institutional arrangements, modalities, structure, governance and terms of reference of the fund (b) Defining the elements of the new funding arrangements (c) Identifying and expanding sources of funding; (d) Ensuring coordination and complementarity with existing funding arrangements.
One of the main contentions on the Loss and Damage funding issue was that developed countries were pushing to expand the donor base to include high income countries and emerging economies like China and India and wanted to narrow the beneficiaries to only most vulnerable (island nations and least developed countries). EU had also sought to link the formation of the Loss and Damage facility to mitigation efforts such as peaking global emissions before 2025; reaffirming the call to reduce by 2030 non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gas emissions like methane; pushing all parties to urgently increase their efforts to closing the remaining mitigation gap to pathways consistent with 1.5 degrees; accelerating the phase down of unabated coal power as soon as possible and submit roadmaps towards this aim, HT had reported on November 18. But following overnight negotiations and efforts to find compromise, the issue of source of funding has now been moved to the transitional committee.
{{/usCountry}}One of the main contentions on the Loss and Damage funding issue was that developed countries were pushing to expand the donor base to include high income countries and emerging economies like China and India and wanted to narrow the beneficiaries to only most vulnerable (island nations and least developed countries). EU had also sought to link the formation of the Loss and Damage facility to mitigation efforts such as peaking global emissions before 2025; reaffirming the call to reduce by 2030 non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gas emissions like methane; pushing all parties to urgently increase their efforts to closing the remaining mitigation gap to pathways consistent with 1.5 degrees; accelerating the phase down of unabated coal power as soon as possible and submit roadmaps towards this aim, HT had reported on November 18. But following overnight negotiations and efforts to find compromise, the issue of source of funding has now been moved to the transitional committee.
{{/usCountry}}Also Read |COP27: When nearly every group questioned decisions, pushing talks over the edge
EU and UK have been extremely disappointed with the Sharm El Sheikh package and expectedly so. Their push on peaking global emissions before 2025; accelerating the phase down of unabated coal power and submitting roadmaps to that effect; phasing out unabated fossil fuels and efforts to start the conversation on expanding the donor base to include high income and emerging economies were in a way thwarted.
“We have literally exhausted all of our efforts here at COP27 to bring home the climate action commitments our vulnerable people desperately need. Our ministers and negotiators have endured sleepless nights and endless days in an intense series of negotiations, determined to secure the establishment of a loss and damage response fund, keep 1.5 alive, and advance ambition on critical mitigation and adaptation plans. But after the pain comes the progress. Today, the international community has restored global faith in this critical process that is dedicated to ensuring no one is left behind. The agreements made at COP27 are a win for our entire world,” said Molwyn Joseph, chair of Alliance of the Small Island States.
Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary General said the COP27 resolution managed to uphold climate justice. “COP27 took place not far from Mount Sinai, a site that is central to many faiths and to the story of Moses, or Musa. It’s fitting. Climate chaos is a crisis of biblical proportions. The signs are everywhere. Instead of a burning bush, we face a burning planet. 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. Ambition to keep the 1.5 degree C limit alive and pull humanity back from the climate cliff. This COP has taken an important step towards justice. I welcome the decision to establish a loss and damage fund and to operationalise it in the coming period,” he said.
India called COP27 as “historic”. “You are presiding over a historic COP where agreement has been secured for loss and damage funding arrangements including setting up a loss and damage fund. The world has waited far too long for this. We congratulate you on your untiring efforts to evolve consensus,” Union environment minister, Bhupender Yadav said while addressing the presidency. “We also welcome the inclusion of transition to sustainable lifestyles and sustainable patterns of consumption and production in our efforts to address climate change in the cover decision,” he added.
“Our proposal on sustainable lifestyles and consumption has been taken on board and on cover decision. It was conceived in India’s Lifestyle For Environment movement. We supported the Loss and Damage facility and suggested that the fund benefit all developing countries. We played a constructive role and the outcome is good,” Yada said.
“For most developing countries, just transition cannot be equated with decarbonisation, but with low-carbon development.Developing countries need independence in their choice of energy mix, and in achieving the SDGs.Developed countries taking the lead in climate action is therefore a very important aspect of the global just transition,” he added.
“It’s a historical day in Climate change negotiations when it has been acknowledged after thirty years that increasing disasters causing Loss and Damage (both economic and non economic) affecting communities/countries which are least responsible for it are caused due to historic cumulative emissions. Efforts have begun by creating a Funding arrangement to address such a facility,” Said Kunal Satyarthi, joint secretary, National Disaster Management Authority and India’s lead negotiator on Loss and Damage.
An Indian delegate said: “We have achieved a good breakthrough in just energy transitions because it talks about diversifying energy mixes and doesn’t single out any one fossil fuel. It is important for us.”
Indian negotiators also said it was a big win in fixing accountability. “The Paris Agreement and the UNFCCC is very clear in describing which are the developed and developing countries so that cannot be diluted. For over 30 years when Loss and Damage was not even considered a word of consequence, vulnerable countries had been seeking justice and accountability. Today we have managed to get a fund. India had proposed that historical responsibility be included in the text but it couldn’t go through. India’s own Loss and Damage is in tens of billions of dollars this year. So we are going back with something significant,” said a negotiator from India.
“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,” said Harjeet Singh, Head of Global Political Strategy, Climate Action Network International.
After overnight consultations and negotiations on these matters, when the COP27 president Sameh Shoukry hit the gavel on Loss and Damage fund, the plenary reverberated with loud applause.
