With the creation of a historic damage repair fund, almost 90 countries arrived this Sunday to an agreement to help the nations most affected by the catastrophic consequences of climate change.
After more than two weeks of intense negotiations, the participants in the United Nations climate summit in Egypt, COP24, reached the commitment to finance a new fund to compensate the “loss and damage” caused by natural disasters in “particularly vulnerable” developing countries.
The agreement, which still has many details to be defined, supports the so-called “mosaic solution” requested by the negotiating bloc of the European Union, among other countries, which advocates resorting to new financial instruments to help pay for damages after extreme events related to the climate crisis.
The debate on compensation Economic compensation for losses and damages had been the big topic postponed in the climate summits that have been held since the decade of the 90.
But given the rapid increase in extreme weather events and pressure from the least developed countries, which are the least polluting, this time the issue was at the center of the agenda.
At the start of the summit in the city of Sharm el Sheikh, it seemed almost impossible to reach an agreement for fear that a compensation system could open the door to eventual multimillion-dollar claims in the future.
However, for the first time in history an agreement was reached on this issue.
Who are “particularly vulnerable” ?
The fund will provide “predictable and adequate” financing to “particularly vulnerable developing countries”, according to the text agreed at the meeting.
However, the declaration does not specify what the countries that will benefit from the fund, nor the details of its financing mechanism, central points that would be defined in future meetings.
A transition committee composed of 24 countries, including three from Latin America and the Caribbean, will prepare the details on the operation and financing of this initiative for a year, with a view to its adoption at the COP 28 at the end of 2023.
The financing will fall basically on the rich countries, those that have contributed the most to global warming, but one of the work routes agreed on this Sunday calls for “expanding the sources of financing”, which would leave an open space for countries like China to participate as donors, a demand expressed by the European Union and Canada, among other nations.
What does the concept of “loss and damage” mean due to extreme weather that confronts rich and poor countries
The COP agreement 24 also invites the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to provide “financing solutions”. However, it does not mention the possibility of forgiving foreign debt, for example, as a relief measure.
Emissions cuts pollutants
Independent the creation of the fund, the European Union had expressed its willingness to achieve a greater commitment in cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, with an eye on China , country that is currently the world’s leading emitter, responsible for almost 90% of the total.
This controversy was one of those that most delayed the end of the summit, which officially should have concluded on Friday.
What is at stake for Latin America due to the serious damage and losses of the climate challenge
Finally, the European Union was unable to have its demands accepted, which sought to increase the emission cut targets sions.
The idea of creating a fund to mitigate the impact of climate change in the most vulnerable countries began to take shape three decades ago , when these nations began to demand reparations for global warming.
Now you can receive notifications from BBC Mundo. Download the new version of our app and activate them so you don’t miss our best content.
- Do you already know our YouTube channel? Subscribe!