The keys to the historic agreement to mitigate the effects of climate change on the poorest countries

With the creation of a historic damage repair fund, nearly 200 countries reached an agreement on Sunday to help nations hardest hit by the catastrophic consequences of climate change.

After more than two weeks of intense negotiations, participants at the United Nations climate summit in Egypt, COP27, reached a commitment to finance a new fund to compensate for the “loss and damage” caused by natural disasters in “especially vulnerable” developing countries.

The agreement, which still has many details to be defined, supports the so-called “mosaic solution” called for by the negotiating bloc of the European Union, among other countries, which advocates resorting to new financial instruments to help pay for damage after extreme events related to the climate crisis.

The debate on economic compensation for loss and damage had been the great topic postponed in the climate summits held since the 90s.

But in the face of the rapid increase in extreme weather events and pressure from less developed countries, which are the least polluting, the issue was this time at the center of the agenda.

At the start of the summit in the city of Sharm el-Sheikh, it seemed almost impossible to reach an agreement for fear that a compensation system could open the door to eventual multimillion-dollar claims in the future.

However, for the first time in history an agreement was reached on this matter.

Who is “especially vulnerable”?

The fund will provide “predictable and adequate” financing to “particularly vulnerable developing countries,” according to the text agreed at the meeting.

However, the declaration does not specify which countries will benefit from the fund, nor the details of its financing mechanism, central points that would be defined at future meetings.

A transition committee composed of 24 countries, including three from Latin America and the Caribbean, will elaborate for one year the details on the operation and financing of this initiative, with a view to its adoption at COP28 at the end of 2023.

The financing will basically fall on rich countries, those that have contributed most to global warming, but one of the work routes agreed on Sunday calls for “expanding sources of financing”, which would leave an open space for countries such as China to participate as donors, a demand expressed by the European Union and Canada. among other nations.

The COP27 agreement also invites the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to provide “financing solutions”. However, it does not mention the possibility of forgiving foreign debt, for example, as a relief measure.

Cuts in polluting emissions

Regardless of the creation of the fund, the European Union had expressed its willingness to achieve a greater commitment in the cuts of greenhouse gas emissions, with an eye on China, which is currently the world’s leading emitter, responsible for almost 30% of the total.

This controversy was one of the most delayed the end of the summit, which should officially have concluded on Friday.

Finally, the European Union failed to get their demands, which sought to increase emissions cut targets, accepted.

The idea of creating a fund to mitigate the impact of climate change on the most vulnerable countries began to take shape three decades ago, when these nations began to demand reparations for global warming.

Source: BBC