HQ Team
November 7, 2022: For the first time, the UN Climate Change Conference has agreed to introduce “loss and damage funding” as an agenda item, Egypt Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said.
According to a statement, after year-long work and 48 hours of continuous informal consultations led by the Egyptian COP presidency on the eve of COP27, the participants from 190 nations agreed to include loss and damage as an agenda item.
Sameh Shoukry was formally elected as the COP27 President by the Parties during the opening plenary.
The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, or COP27, is being held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. It started on November 6 and will end on 18.
Loss and damage arising from the adverse effects of climate change can include those related to extreme weather events and is at the centre of COP27 negotiations.
Developing vs developed
The issue is that developing countries hold the most significant fossil fuel polluters for their sufferings.
The poorer countries have suffered severe losses and damages and have contributed the least to global warming.
Funding for loss and damage or climate justice will top the COP27 agenda.
These nations want to secure climate finance for mitigation and adaptation to help fund developing countries and be ready for the future climate crisis.
Loss and damage also include slow onset events, such as sea-level rise, increasing temperatures, ocean acidification, glacial retreat and related impacts, salinization, land and forest degradation, biodiversity loss, and desertification.
Paris Agreement
Article 8 of the Paris Agreement outlines the importance of averting, minimizing and addressing loss and damage and the role of sustainable development in reducing the risk of loss and damage.
It identified early warning systems, emergency preparedness, slow onset events, events that may involve irreversible and permanent loss and damage, comprehensive risk assessment and management and risk insurance facilities as areas of cooperation.
According to an International Institute for Environment and Development analysis carried out for 173 nations, 37 developed countries analyzed had relatively high GDP per capita and low risk of loss and damage. The inverse was true for the 46 least developed countries.
The most at-risk country was Burundi, followed by Somalia and Mozambique, while Luxembourg, Switzerland and Ireland were the least at risk.
Richer countries, who are most responsible for carbon emissions but suffer the least from climate change, continue to resist calls for climate finance commitment from those living on the front lines of the climate crisis.
