HQ Team
November 30, 2023: The COP28 has reached an agreement to operationalise a fund, known as ‘loss and damage’ to aid developing nations to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change.
“The hard work of many people over many years has been delivered in Dubai,” said COP28 President Dr Sultan Al Jaber in Dubai, where the UN climate conference is being held starting November 30 and ending on December 12.
“The speed at which the world came together, to get this fund operationalised within one year since the parties agreed to it in Sharm El Sheikh is unprecedented.”
The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, more commonly referred to as COP27, was the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference, held from November 6 to 20 November 2022 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
Five transitional meetings
The ‘loss and damage’ fund was first agreed upon during COP27, held in Sharm El Sheikh, and became operational on November 30, 2023, following the agreement reached by parties during five transitional committee meetings.
The COP28 Presidency added a fifth transitional meeting hosted earlier this month in Abu Dhabi, following the impasse at the fourth meeting. A resolution was reached in the final fifth meeting.
The fifth meeting generated recommendations on implementing the fund, including providing essential grant-based support to countries especially impacted by climate and loss.
“In a comprehensive listening tour, COP28 leadership socialised those recommendations with national governments ahead of COP28, laying the groundwork for today’s historic decision,” according to a COP28 statement.
Paris Agreement
The UN climate conferences are government-level large-scale annual gatherings focused on climate action.
The UNFCCC convention entered into force on 21 March 1994 to prevent “dangerous” human interference with the climate system. Today, ratified by 198 countries, it has near-universal membership. The Paris Agreement, adopted in 2015, works as an extension of that convention.
Loss and Damage are essential even if the world meets climate mitigation goals because a “locked-in” level of warming already impacts particularly vulnerable communities being hit by extreme weather events.
These events include storms and floods, reduced agricultural productivity, and rising sea levels.
Th action on ‘loss and damage’ will enable the parties to focus on the strongest possible response to the Global Stocktake — the world’s report card on progress toward Paris Agreement goals.
UK, Japan
The UAE announced its commitment of $100 million to the ‘loss and damage’ fund, which aims to provide financial assistance to countries at extreme risk from climate change, to support climate change mitigation and recovery.
Other countries included Germany, which committed $100 million, the UK with £40 million and £20 million for other arrangements, Japan, which contributed $10 million and the US, which committed $17.5 million.
The total contribution for the fund was not disclosed.
