COP28 presidency agrees to operationalise loss and damage fund due to climate change

Abu Dhabi: In a major break through over the global finance for climate change, the international panel on loss and damage has reached an agreement on operationalising a global fund, which will be taken forward at COP28.

The decision was taken in the fifth meeting of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Transitional Committee on Loss and Damage late Saturday night in Abu Dhabi.

The agreement will be sent by the transitional committee to the UN climate summit to be held in Dubai in December for further deliberations, along with the objections the US raised.

At the 27th UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) at Sharm El Sheikh the world leaders created a new fund, (Loss and Damage Fund) in which countries responsible for high carbon emissions will compensate vulnerable countries suffering from climate impacts.

“The fund is able to receive contributions from a wide variety of sources of funding, including grants and concessional loans from public, private and innovative sources, as appropriate,” the adopted text said.

“It only urged developed countries to continue to provide support, and encourage other nations to provide voluntary support for activities to address loss and damage due to the climate emergency”it said.

Welcoming the move, COP28 President Dr. Sultan Al Jaber said, “As we have shown in Abu Dhabi, Multilateralism works. The Transitional Committee has broken deadlocks and and found common ground to deliverclear recommendations- Parties must seal the deal in Dubai and fulfill our obligations on the Loss and Damage Fund.”

The recommendation, if adopted by consensus at COP28 has the potential to impact “billions of people, lives and livelihoods who are vulnerable to the effects of climate change.” They, Dr. Al Jaber said, “depend upon the adoption of this recommended approach at COP28.”

The Fifth Meeting of the Transitional Committee on Loss and Damage, held on 3 and 4 November in Abu Dhabi, has produced recommendations including the provision of much-needed, grant-based support to countries particularly impacted by climate and loss. At COP28 Parties will now be responsible for operationalizing the fund.

“I welcome the agreement reached in Abu Dhabi by the Transitional Committee,” Dr. Al Jaber said in a statement. “This clear and strong recommendation to operationalize the Loss and Damage Fund and funding arrangements, paves the way for agreement at COP28.”

The United Nation in its “Adaptation Gap Report 2023” mentioned that the current adaptation finance gap is now estimated to be US$194-366 billion per year.

The agency said despite pledges made at COP26 in Glasgow to double adaptation finance support to around $40 billion per year by 2025, public multilateral and bilateral adaptation finance flows to developing countries declined by 15 per cent to around $21 billion in 2021.