Climate change has been here for a long time and we experience accelerating damaging impact and related losses to nature and to people. Sea level rise, increasing temperatures, ocean acidification, glacial retreat and related impacts, salinization, land and forest degradation, loss of diversity and desertification are the leading impacts over nature and human life. COP27’s timing is especially critical since it comes after catastrophic climate events: floods that killed 1700 people in Pakistan, drought withering crops in China, Africa and the US West. Increasingly destructive fires, drought and floods in each and every corner of the globe have influenced the Western decision makers.
COP19 in Warsaw (2013) marks the introduction of a remarkable initiative to tackle climate change: “Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage”, the result of several years of demands from Small-Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries. This move is necessary to address the residual, unavoidable losses and damages caused by climate impacts that are not possible to tackle through adaptation and risk reduction strategies alone.
In short, the aim was to promote “implementation of approaches to address loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change…in a comprehensive, integrated and coherent manner”. Considering Loss and Damage is important for developing countries since they struggle more when the damage occurs, and their financial and institutional capacities are not sufficient to prohibit negative effects of climate change on food security and sustainable development. Therefore, it is obligatory to mobilize and to channel the resources and capacity to help these countries.
Following the 2nd review of the mechanism in COP25 in Chile (2019), the theme is on the agenda again in 2022. For some countries, success of the talks in Egypt will be evaluated based on the progress on loss and damage funding. Considering countries are separated over the fund, it will take time and energy to reach a final decision.On 14th November, the United Nations published a draft text setting out what the COP27 climate summit could agree on “loss and damage” financing for countries devastated by climate impacts.
This text stresses the two-year process for figuring out how to provide funding to developed countries and offers two options. The first one would set forth funding arrangements for loss and damage by November 2024 along with inclusion of a U.N. funding facility; the second one would delay until 2023 a decision on what the U.N. climate body’s role will be in a broader mosaic of options to fund loss and damage.
However, the demand of finalizing COP27 with a firm decision to launch a loss and damage fund from more than 130 developing countries decrease the probability of a second option.
Push by developing countries, including small island states and poor countries, has found some correspondence on the other part. Scotland pledged £5 million to address loss and damage, while Germany and Belgium committed €170 million and €2.5 million respectively. Additionally, Ireland pledged $10 million, while Austria announced their commitment with €50 million. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said “The developed world has caused climate change and the developing world is paying the price. If people cannot see the reality of that then there is something wrong”. Considering that, a report published in June by 55 vulnerable countries estimated that climate-linked losses over the last two decades totaled about $525 billion. The committed amount is not huge, but the symbolic meaning of these commitments are significant.
After Jacob Werksman, the European Commission’s chief advisor for international climate relations, signaled EU’s commitment to the mechanism on 9th November - by stressing that the EU welcomes “a process on funding for loss and damage” at the UN level - the EU officially committed to key developing world demands on financial help for poor countries. On behalf of the EU, the European Commission vice-president, Frans Timmermans, introduced a proposal that basically states approval of establishing a loss and damage fund. He stressed that a decision has been taken subsequent to listening to the G77 group of developing countries, the group that has advocated this found throughout the COP27.
In the first place, rich countries were strictly against this key demand mainly due to the question of necessity and operation. Timmermans said: “We were reluctant about a fund, it was not our idea to have a fund. My reluctance was because I know from experience it takes time before a fund can be established, and more time before it is filled, whereas we have existing instruments. I really believe we could move faster with existing instruments [for climate finance]. But since they [the G77] are so attached to a fund, we have agreed.” In line with the fund, the EU would like to see more ambition on cutting emissions through updates on national plans to meet the 1.5℃ target agreed in the Paris Agreement. Moreover, EU would commit to that fund only if “the donor base was broadened” which means that countries such as China, the world’s biggest emitter and second biggest economy, as well as high emitters Russia and Saudi Arabia, and potentially from rapidly industrializing countries such as South Korea and Singapore are included. Some parties from developing countries were satisfied with that leap by the EU, while others argued that it was just a repetition of its original negotiation position.
The EU and its member states are already the largest contributors to international public climate finance, with €23 billion in 2020 and 2021. Still, the EU has made an effort to lead finalizing the deal and it seems that developing countries get what they want after years of advocacy and discussion. COP27 has ended with a historic deal; developed countries agreed to a global fund. In spite of the progress, one point is highly criticized: failure in efforts to cut carbon dioxide, after oil-producing countries and high emitters weakened and removed key commitments on greenhouse gases and phasing out fossil fuels.
As the head of EU executive, Ursula Von Der Leyen described the deal “a small step towards climate justice”. This is not a complete package to fight climate crisis, the world still has a lot to do in order reverse the effects of global warming, but the deal is gleam of hope for millions of people without a doubt.
Resources:
https://ehs.unu.edu/news/news/significance-of-the-warsaw-international-mechanism.html
https://unfccc.int/topics/adaptation-and-resilience/the-big-picture/introduction-to-loss-and-damage
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/08/climate/loss-and-damage-cop27-climate.html
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/20/cop27-agrees-to-historic-loss-and-damage-fund-to-compensate-developing-countries-for-climate-impacts
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L'Autore
Mehmetcan Karakoyun
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COP27 UN politics Environment