With discusions over loss and damage on COP27 agenda, European nations pitch in
Close on the heels of loss and damage finance getting included in the main agenda of the climate change conference, some money has also started to flow in for this purpose.
At least three European nations — Germany, Austria and Belgium — announced new commitments for loss and damage, totalling a little more than 220 million euros. Germany alone promised to provide 170 million euro, while Austria announced a commitment of 50 million euros. Belgium pledged 2.5 million euros for southern African country of Mozambique for strengthening climate resilience with the aim of preventing loss and damage for climate finance.
The provision of money specifically for helping countries or regions hit climate disasters has been a contentious issue at the climate negotiations. Developed countries have strongly resed the idea that because these disasters have been a result of their emissions over the years, they have a responsibility or a liability to compensate the affected countries for the loss and damage suffered. But there has been a very strong demand for a separate allocation of money for loss and damage, and it has been delinked from any burden of liability.
The three countries that pledged money for loss and damage on Tuesday are incidentally not the first ones to do so. Before them, Denmark and Scotland have also pledged money for loss and damage, but as in the case of three commitments announced on Tuesday, their contributions have also been modest compared to the requirement. Denmark had promised about US$ 13 million, and Scotland pledged five million pounds. A recent report UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Efforts had said annual funding requests related to climate linked disasters averaged US$ 15.5 billion in the three-year period between 2019 and 2021.
Harjeet Singh, head of Global Political Strategy, Climate Action Network International, welcomed the new promises but said these were too inadequate and no match for institutionalised financial support.
“The new financial pledges from some rich countries to address loss and damage are welcome. It shows that they are finally acknowledging the lack of finance to meet the needs of people affected climate disasters. But this drip-feed of assorted pledges cannot detract from the demand of setting up a Loss and Damage Finance Facility at COP27 to fill the gap in the financial architecture under the UN system. What we need is institutionalized support that can be scaled up drastically to respond to multiplying economic impacts due to extreme weather events,” Singh said.
On the first three days of the climate conference here, world leaders — Presidents, Vice-Presidents and Prime Miners — have been making country statements. Over 100 heads of states or governments have attended the Sharm el-Shaikh meeting, making it comparable with the earlier conferences in Copenhagen (2009), Paris (2015) and Glasgow (2021) though there is little hype around the presence of world leaders this time. US President Joe Biden is likely to attend on November 11. Most of the other leaders would have returned then.
On Tuesday, a new Adaptation Agenda was also launched, outlining 30 adaptation outcomes whose completion 2030 would strengthen the resilience of about four billion people living in some of the most vulnerable areas of the world. This set of 30 outcomes is the first attempt at setting a global goal for adaptation, an objective that has been under work for several years.
Meanwhile, India joined a new Mangrove Alliance for Climate launched the UAE and Indonesia at COP27 meeting. Sri Lanka, Japan, Australia and Spain also joined this new initiative whose objective is to scale up the conservation and restoration of mangrove ecosystems.
