Title: Historic Agreement Reached at U.N. COP28 Summit for Creation of Loss and Damage Fund
Dubai: An agreement was reached on the opening day of the U.N. COP28 summit in the United Arab Emirates, which brought about a historic decision to create a disaster fund to help nations impacted by the climate crisis. This deal builds on a previous agreement struck at COP27 in Egypt and was met with a standing ovation from delegates in the audience.
Pledges to the fund include $100 million from Germany, $100 million from the United Arab Emirates, $17 million from the U.S. and $10 million from Japan, with additional pledges from the U.K. so far. The payments are made on a voluntary basis and all developing countries are eligible to access the resources directly. The World Bank will act as the interim host to the fund for a period of four years.
Friederike Roder, vice president of sustainable development advocacy group Global Citizen, emphasized the importance of significant pledges from wealthy nations to ensure the fund’s effectiveness. This fund is seen as essential to account for climate impacts in low-income countries that they cannot defend against due to financial constraints.
Avinash Persaud, special climate envoy to Barbados, described the deal as a “hard fought historic agreement” and a recognition that the money is needed to reconstruct and rehabilitate in the wake of climate-related disasters. The creation of the fund was seen as a massive breakthrough and a show of global cooperation.
The deal reflects a huge boost to momentum for the negotiations, according to Alex Scott, an analyst at environmental think tank E3G. Now, policymakers will need to consider the amount they are willing to contribute to the fund. Low-income countries have called for sums of at least $100 billion a year by 2030 to address loss and damage caused by the climate crisis.
Overall, the agreement to establish the loss and damage fund was seen as a significant step forward in addressing the ongoing impacts of the climate crisis and ensuring that resources are available for the countries most in need. The negotiations at U.N. COP28 are expected to further address the funding requirements to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
