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COP27 – Colombia Claims an Unreasonable “Loss and Damage” of $800 Billion a Year – Does That Count?


From CFACT

David Wojick

This absurd statement reveals the dangerous absurdity of the “loss and damage” doctrine. At this rate of damage, the total global damage would be about TWO hundred thousand dollars a year. There is not that much money in the whole world.

$800 billion a year is from a report presented by Colombia at COP27. The mainstream green press either ignores it or decides to ignore it, lest it raise issues it is best to leave it alone until the United Nations Proposed Loss and Damage Base is created. .

Look at it this way. Colombia is a relatively small country with a GDP of about $300 billion a year, the 40th largest in the world, and accounts for only 0.4% of total global GDP. Its “loss and damage” claim is about 2.5 times GDP, so let’s assume that rate is global.

World GDP is about $81 trillion, multiplied by 2.5 is just over $200 trillion a year.

Here are some examples of large developing countries, using 2.5 times GDP estimates, rounded. (GDP is from 2017)

Estimates of “loss and damage” due to anthropogenic climate chaos:

India 6.6 trillion dollars a year

Brazil 5.1 trillion dollars a year

Mexico $2.9 trillion a year

Indonesia 2.5 trillion dollars a year

Argentina 1.6 trillion dollars a year

Iran 1.1 trillion dollars a year

Obviously these numbers are absurd when it comes to compensation. Of course, they are also absurd as far as human-caused climate damage is concerned, but that’s a very different matter, as they can still be claimed. When it comes to the United Nations, absurdity is not an obstacle.

These huge numbers dwarf the current COP27 negotiations, where the financing issue could increase total financial flows from $100 billion a year to $1 trillion. None of that is for the so-called “loss and damage”, i.e. extra. Note that even $100 billion has never been paid.

Before proceeding to discuss “loss and damage”, we should ask “What currency are we talking about?” Because it makes no sense to talk about paying hundreds of trillions of dollars to developing countries. It cannot happen.

It is important that no numbers are included in news stories full of “compensation”. Why this ludicrous claim by Colombia did not make headlines is, in itself, a question worth asking. I see it buried is the third story in a newsletter from Climate News Home (CHN).

See https://mailchi.mp/climatehome/everybody-needs-good-neighbours?e=edd9ee2911

One would expect major green media outlets such as the Washington Post, New York Times, BBC, CNN and Guardian to cover this story. I’m sure all their climate reporters read CHN. But it might scare the developed world off the table, right? And we just have them there, right? It is best to be silent.

Of course, it is possible that Colombia is just an astronomical exception. In other words a scammer. Probably no other developing country would come up with ridiculous numbers like these. Well, we should definitely wait and see.

According to the CHN article, the Inter-American Development Organization is funding similar “loss and damage” analyzes of Panama and Peru. We should at least wait until these numbers come out before entering any negotiations. After all, if their numbers were the same as Colombia’s, there was nothing to negotiate.

Besides, maybe banks love these big numbers because they will handle the action. And when it comes to compensation, more is better, right?

Speaking of having nothing to negotiate, there have been several token contributions to the future United Nations “loss and damage” fund. I think at least Denmark, New Zealand and Scotland each promised $10 million or so. Compared to Colombia’s staggering numbers, this is nothing, just a tiny fraction of the rounding error.

Final thoughts, how can a country consistently lose more than twice its GDP per year and still survive? This is definitely a hoax.

Don’t negotiate until you know the numbers.
David Wojick, Ph.D. is an independent analyst working at the intersection of science, technology and policy. For the origin see http://www.stemed.info/engineer_tackles_confusion.html For more than 100 previous articles for CFACT see http://www.cfact.org/author/david-wojick-ph-d/ Available for confidential research and consultation.

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