COP27: Fund approved for ‘losses and damages’ of poor countries due to climate change

In the approval in principle proposal for the creation of a special purpose fund to cover the “losses and damages” suffered by “particularly vulnerable” poor countries due to climate change the plenary session of the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on climate change (COP27).

The decision, which was greeted with cheers by many plenary delegations at the close of this marathon UN session in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, labeled “historical” by those who support it.

Opening the proceedings of the plenary session, the COP27 president, Egypt’s Sameh Shoukry, “begged” delegations to approve “the draft decisions that I will present to you” as the whole world is “watching us”. “I urge you all to live up to the expectations placed on us by the international community, especially those who are most vulnerable despite having contributed least to climate change.”

The text emphasizes the “immediate need for new, additional, predictable and sufficient financial reimgs to assist emerging countries that are particularly vulnerable” to the “economic and non-economic” consequences of climate change.

Among these reimgs it is expressly stated that the future “loss and damage fund” of developing countries, which their delegations have been pressing for, will be included.

The details for the implementation of the decision, i.e. the creation of the fund and the collection of the funds, are expected to be defined by a special committee and put up for approval at COP28, at the end of 2023, in the United Arab Emirates.

This issue, “losses and damages”, at the heart of the dialogue after the huge disasters suffered by floods in Pakistan and Nigeria in particular this year, threatened to derail COP27.

It was not put on the agenda until the last minute, after long-standing reluctance by rich countries, and only on the condition that potential liability and reparations be ruled out.

Developed countries were categorically opposed to the idea of ​​creating such a special purpose fund.

Finally, the European Union submitted on Thursday, theoretically on the eve of the conclusion of the conference, a proposal that accepted the creation of a special fund, on the condition that it would only concern “particularly vulnerable” countries, in other words excluding rapidly developing states such as China.

The EU also wanted a reference to the contribution to China’s future special fund to be included in the text.

Both China and the USA, respectively the second and the first economies of the planet, publicly maintain a very discreet position on the issue.