Climate compensation, or “loss and damage” funding, is a divisive and emotional issue, seen as a fundamental question of climate justice.
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Government ministers and negotiators from nearly 200 countries finally reached an agreement on Sunday to set up a new fund aimed at compensating poor nations for the “loss and damage” they suffered. are being experienced as extreme weather and climate change worsen.
The agreement, reached in the early hours of Sunday morning, also reaffirms efforts to limit the increase in global temperatures to the critical temperature threshold of 1.5 degrees C on the pre-industrial level.
The two-week COP27 climate summit took place in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh amid a growing number of extreme weather phenomenon, geopolitical conflict and a profound energy crisis.
Delegates had difficulty building consensus on a range of issues, even as a series of UN reports were published ahead of the conference. clarify how close the planet is to an irreversible climate breakdown.
The scale of the split among climate envoys has pushed talks long past Friday’s deadline, with campaigners accusing the US of playing games.deep congestion” role by blocking the needs of developing countries.
Some of the key sticking points include debates over whether all fossil fuels or just coal should be included in the decision text and whether a “loss and damage” fund should be established. countries suffer from climate-induced disasters.
The divisive and emotional issue of loss and damage dominates UN-brokered negotiations, and many feel the summit’s success depends on rich countries agreeing to establish a new fund.
The summit made history as the first to see the topic of funding loss and damage formally included on the COP27 agenda. This issue was first raised by climate-prone countries 30 years ago.
Raising hopes of a subsequent loss and damage breakthrough, the European Union said late Thursday that it would be ready to support the request of the G-77 group of 134 developing countries. to create a new compensation fund.
The proposal has been welcomed by some countries in the Southern Hemisphere, although campaigners see the proposal as a “poison pill” as the bloc has said it is only willing to provide aid to “countries”. most vulnerable”.
Rich countries have long opposed the creation of a fund to deal with losses and damages, and many policymakers fear that taking on liability could trigger a wave of lawsuits by countries in frontline in the climate emergency.
The deal was finally reached after intense negotiations throughout the night, with many delegates exhausted when the deal was announced at around 4am. local time.
There has been some frustration at the lack of focus on raising emissions targets, and many details around the loss and damage fund remain unresolved, including the national conundrum. Which country will pay into the fund.
