Climate reparations, or “loss and damage” funding, is a highly divisive and emotive issue that’s seen as a fundamental query of climate justice.
Sean Gallup | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Government ministers and negotiators from nearly 200 countries finally secured an agreement Sunday geared toward keeping a critically necessary global heating goal alive.
The brand new political deal reaffirms efforts to limit global temperature rise to the crucial temperature threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and the creation of a latest “loss and damage” fund that might compensate poor nations which might be victims of maximum weather worsened by climate change.
The 2-week-long COP27 climate summit took place in Egypt’s Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh against a backdrop of accelerating extreme weather events, geopolitical conflicts and a deepening energy crisis.
Delegates struggled to construct consensus on an array of issues, at the same time as a flurry of U.N. reports published ahead of the conference made clear just how close the planet is to irreversible climate breakdown.
The dimensions of division between climate envoys saw talks run beyond Friday’s deadline, with campaigners accusing the U.S. of playing a “deeply obstructive” role by blocking the demands of developing countries. The ultimate agreement was reached within the early hours of Sunday morning following tense negotiations throughout the night, with many delegates exhausted by the point the deal was announced.
A few of the foremost sticking points included battles over whether all fossil fuels or simply coal ought to be named in the choice text and whether to establish a “loss and damage” fund for countries hit by climate-fueled disasters.
The highly divisive and emotive issue of loss and damage dominated the U.N.-brokered talks and lots of felt the success of the conference hinged on getting wealthy countries to agree to ascertain a latest fund.
The summit made history as the primary to see the subject of loss and damage funding formally make it onto the COP27 agenda. The problem was first raised by climate-vulnerable countries 30 years ago.
Lifting hopes of a breakthrough on loss and damage thereafter, the European Union said late Thursday that it could be prepared to back the demand of the G-77 group of 134 developing nations to create a latest reparations fund.
The proposal was welcomed by some countries within the Global South, although campaigners decried the offer as a “poison pill” given the bloc said it was only willing to supply aid to “essentially the most vulnerable countries.”
Wealthy countries have long opposed the creation of a fund to deal with loss and damage and lots of policymakers fear that accepting liability could trigger a wave of lawsuits by countries on the frontlines of the climate emergency.
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