Since this morning, Heads of State and NGO representatives have been hailing in the media or on social networks the historic agreement reached at the conclusion of COP 27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. “It’s a huge achievement to get an agreement after 30 years of trying to put this on the agenda,” Tasneem Essop, director of the NGO network Climate Action Network, told the Agence France Presse (AFP). “Historic. I really believe that it is historic, abounds for his part Collins Nzovu, Minister of the Environment of Zambia. It is a very positive result for 1.3 billion Africans”. Both refer to the adoption of a resolution providing, in particular, for the creation of a dedicated fund to finance the climate damage already suffered by “particularly vulnerable” countries.
The decision was approved by consensus in the plenary assembly to thunderous applause, at the end of the annual UN climate conference. It stresses the “immediate need for new, additional, predictable and adequate financial resources to help developing countries which are particularly vulnerable” to the “economic and non-economic” impacts of climate change.
“What no other COP had achieved”
If many rightly praise a major breakthrough, it is because the issue of “loss and damage” was not even on the agenda at the start of the discussions. For almost thirty years, NGOs and southern countries – the most vulnerable to the damage of global warming – have been trying to push the subject to successive COPs. “COP27 did what no other COP had done,” said Mohamed Adow, executive director of the NGO Power Shift Africa. “This issue was not even on the agenda at the start of the negotiations, and today we are making history,” he remarked. “It shows that the United Nations process can deliver results and that the world can recognize the plight of the vulnerable.” While last year, in Glasgow, the question had made its way, the developed countries had finally succeeded in blocking any significant progress on this sensitive file. But this Thursday the European Union made a spectacular turnaround by accepting the principle of a fund, before being rallied by the United States. This made it possible to have it adopted.
But what does the notion of loss and damage, also called “loss and damage” actually mean? This is damage already caused by extreme events, such as the recent floods in Pakistan or the heat wave that hit Europe this summer, and by more gradual phenomena such as rising waters. This damage can be material and human, is irreversible and already affects a major part of the globe. “This notion also points to the monumental damage caused by extreme phenomena, which require and will require major investments”, explained to L’Express Fanny Petitbon at the dawn of COP27.
The issue of funds
For this agreement to be truly historic and viable, words must be followed by deeds. For example, designate the vulnerable countries that could benefit from such a mechanism, as well as those that will have to finance it. According to the first conclusions, the modalities for the implementation of the fund will have to be drawn up by a special committee for adoption at the next COP28, which will take place at the end of 2023 in the United Arab Emirates. The challenge is to prevent this fund from remaining an empty shell, without considerable financing. “It should be noted that we have the fund, but we need the money to make it worth it,” commented on his Twitter Mohamed Adow of Power Shift Africa. And to add: “What we have is an empty shell. We must now fill it so that support can be given to the most affected people who are currently suffering from the climate crisis”.
For her part, Laurence Tubiana, the president of the European climate foundation and one of the architects of the Paris agreement, declared that “the fund for loss and damage is on track to start in 2023. There is still a lot of work on the details, but the principle is good, and it’s an important shift in mindset as we deal in a world where climate impacts are causing deep losses.” Forty countries have already pledged to mobilize more than 350 million dollars (338 million euros) for “losses and damage”. A drop of water compared to the real needs. In Pakistan alone, the UN estimates that this summer’s floods, which affected some 33 million people, caused more than $30 billion in damage and economic loss.
But this is not the first time that States, admittedly proactive, have committed to releasing funds: the promises of funding for global warming made at the Copenhagen conference in 2009 have not yet been fully honored. , whereas they were to be reached in 2020. The countries of the North have still not provided the 100 billion dollars per year that they had then promised.