COP27 establishes fund to deal with climate loss, damage

In what can be considered a historic moment, especially for Africa and other developing countries, the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) have agreed to establish a loss and damage fund. Sharm El-Sheikh Implementation Plan on climate change.

“Loss and damage” made its way onto the conference agenda for the first time after African negotiators asserted their influence.

After development, the new fund will allow donors to contribute to a global fund to save lives and livelihoods from climate change-related disasters.

Thanks to the agreement, the Parties re-committed to keeping the 1.5 °C global temperature increase target intact and made significant progress on climate issues.

New deal

After days of negotiations, the conference finally created a facility to respond to the devastating effects of climate change on vulnerable communities.

The amount of loss and damage was decided at the closing plenary meeting of the COP from 04:00 on Sunday morning. Earlier, COP President Sameh Shoukry asked for objections, and none were heard.

In his words, “we heard the calls, and we responded. Today, here in Sharm El-Sheikh, we established the first fund dedicated to loss and damage, a fund that has been around for so long. It was appropriate for this COP, the COP to be established in Africa, where the fund is permanently established. Millions of millions around the world can now feel a glimmer of hope that their suffering will be resolved once and for all, quickly and appropriately.”

Agreements and commitments on loss and damage aim to expand wider ambitions for mitigation and adaptation. At COP27, loss and damage commitments were made by several countries, including Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany and New Zealand, joining Denmark and Scotland, which had previously made commitments.

Ephraim Shitima, president of the African Group of Negotiators, said: “After 30 years of effort, on African soil, the world has agreed to establish a new loss and damage fund and financing agreement.”

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Loss and damage

The creation of the installation symbolizes the complete operationalization Santigo Network LossAndDamage – A network created to catalyze technical assistance from relevant organizations to implement appropriate approaches to prevent, minimize and deal with local, national and regional losses and damages in developing countries, countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. .

With this new fund, the third pillar of climate finance has been created. The activation of the facility will lead to the provision of new financial assistance under Article 9 of the Paris Agreement (PA), in addition to adaptation and mitigation funding, to developing countries.

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Before At COP26 in the UK, the G77 and China proposed a solution to the existing funding gap to meet their needs in the form of the Loss and Damage Financing Facility (LDFF). They said that the LDFF “will be able to provide new financial assistance under Article 9 of the Paris Agreement (PA), in addition to adaptation and mitigation financing, to help developing countries deal with losses and damages.”

However, no agreement could be reached on the implementation of the LDFF or a process for it. Instead, the Glasgow Dialogue was established but without clear milestones and outcomes.

Experts react

Responding to the loss and damage facility, Minister Gaston Browne, head of the Alliance of Small Island States, said that the establishment of the loss and damage fund will ensure that the cost and burden of the climate crisis will not only be borne by governments and individuals. The most vulnerable to the effects of Climate Change.

“It’s a step towards climate justice,” he said.

The president of the Least Developed Countries Group of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Madeleine Sarr, said that the full operationalization of the Santiago Network is welcome due to losses and damages. “We ask the developers to provide the necessary funding so that the Santigo Network can do its work.”

“Regarding the loss and damage fund, we confirm that the fund should be an operating entity under the UNFCC financial mechanism with new, adequate and public funding,” the official said.

UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon Stiell said: “We have established a fund that will form a pillar that will work to ensure that losses and damages are remedied.”

“We’ve charted a way forward in a decades-long conversation about loss and damage.”

Speaking about the year ahead, COP President Shoukry said: “We leave Sharm El-Sheikh with renewed hope for the future of our planet, with an even stronger collective will and more determination to achieve the Paris Agreement’s temperature target.

“We have just approved a landmark program of work to mitigate and implement Sharm El-Sheikh, which will help enormously to keep 1.5 within reach, and I’m sure we all know what needs to be done to protect 1.5 and ensure we never go beyond it.”