COP27: Historic fund to pay for climate damage, without progress in mitigation

The UN climate summit that concluded on Sunday in the Egyptian city of Sharm el Sheikh was a “victory” for developing countries, as it will give rise to the first fund destined to pay for the impacts of climate change, and also a “disappointment” for those who criticized the lack of ambition.

Almost 200 countries agreed early Sunday to back an agreement that responded to a historic demand by the most vulnerable countries to the effects of the climate crisis: the creation of a fund under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to help them bear the economic cost of the consequences of global warming. a phenomenon to which they have hardly contributed.

Although this issue managed to mark the media agenda in the coverage of COP27 since its inception, the objectives of the summit focused on increasing ambition in climate change mitigation plans -the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions-, adaptation and financing, aspects that were relegated to the background. according to sources in the European Union.

Loss and damage

“At the beginning of these talks, loss and damage was not even on the agenda and now we are making history,” said the director of PowerShift Africa, Mohamed Adow, for whom the approval of the fund “shows that this UN process can achieve results, and that the world can recognize that the situation of the vulnerable should not be treated as a political football.”

In the same vein, the president of the World Resources Institute (WRI), Ani Dasgupta, described the result as “a historic advance”.

Environmental organizations – many of them present at the meeting in Sharm el Sheikh to closely follow the negotiations – while celebrating the success of the new loss and damage fund and the climate justice narrative that starred in the summit, lamented the lack of ambition on the part of some countries.

For those states lagging behind in climate action, “litigation risks will increase, with more lawsuits not only against governments and fossil fuel companies, but also against food and agriculture, transportation, plastics and finance,” Client Earth warned.

Expectations were not high in the middle of the extension of the conference, which extended almost two days beyond the official program – something that, on the other hand, is not uncommon in these summits – because on Saturday night tension persisted in the negotiations and there did not seem to be a mitigation proposal firm enough to satisfy the parties that demanded more climate action.

Finally, the loss and damage fund obtained the green light in the plenary session, applauded by the island states, which were especially involved in the dialogue so that the developed countries and major historical culprits of the climate crisis paid for the extreme phenomena suffered to a greater extent by the so-called Global South.

The special envoy of the Prime Minister of Barbados, Avinash Persaud, who called the fund “a victory for humanity”, valued the “strong leadership of the alliance of small island states” and the “surprising degree of solidarity shown by the rest of the world, from major industrialized developing countries to developed ones”.

Disappointment European Union

The final agreement, however, disappointed the European Union, as well as other parties who tried to adopt “strong language” in the mitigation document, with an explicit request to countries to phase out the use of fossil fuels, and not just coal, as reflected in the declaration, called the “Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan”.

“Tackling climate change requires that all financial flows support the low-carbon transition: the EU came here to get strong language and we are disappointed that we did not succeed,” said European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans, who lamented that since the Glasgow Pact “a lot of speed” has been lost because of the energy crisis that has favored the war in Ukraine.

Likewise, the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, who pointed out that COP27 had taken “a step forward for justice”, stressed that there is a “red line” that should not be crossed, in reference to the warming of 1.5 degrees that should not be exceeded by the end of this century, for which it is necessary to “invest massively in renewable energies” and end the “addiction to fossil fuels”.

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Sunday that what was agreed by COP27 “marks a small step towards climate justice”, but warned that “much more is needed for the planet” because the commitment of the world’s main emitters to gradually reduce fossil fuels has not been fulfilled. nor with the new commitments on climate mitigation.

Source: EFE Green