The issue of loss and damage needs to be discussed honestly, but it must not derail progress at the crucial climate summit.
Many LMICs would rather see high emitters accept liability for their historical emissions and agree to provide compensation for damage wrought. This third option is by far the most contentious for high-income countries. They argue that attribution studies cannot yet determine whether climate damage in one country can be traced to specific emissions from another. They also fear that it could lead to.
It will fall to conference hosts Egypt to help find a way forward. Pakistan also has a pivotal, although tricky, role: it holds this year’s presidency of the G77, the largest group of LMICs, which also includes China. This group is not yet aligned on one model.It might prove instructive to examine the experience of negotiators on the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.
It shouldn’t have taken 30 years for loss-and-damage finance to be included on the climate COP agenda. That time would have been better spent designing a scheme that could already have had a big impact on climate-vulnerable countries. The whole world is now at a much more precarious point, and LMICs in particular are more vulnerable.Higher-income countries must accept responsibility for their previous blocking tactics as they approach this part of the negotiations.
Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
COP27: Polluters must pay for climate change, poor nations tell richWATCH: Leaders from emerging economies and poorer countries criticized wealthy governments and oil companies for driving global warming, using speeches at Egypt's COP27 climate summit to demand they pay for damages being inflicted on their economies
Read more »
COP27: Austria commits $50 mln for climate 'loss and damage'Austria will provide 50 million euros (dollars) to developing countries facing unavoidable damage and losses caused by climate change as it joins a small group of European nations to offer such funds, the country’s climate ministry told Reuters.
Read more »
COP27: Gates Foundation CEO calls for more cash for climate adaptationThe world's development banks need to prioritise helping poorer countries adapt to the impacts of climate change, the chief executive of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation told Reuters.
Read more »
COP27: WTO chief seeks to revive green trade talksThe head of the World Trade Organization aims to revive negotiations on a global environmental trade deal, she told Reuters, as part of efforts to give the trade watchdog a bigger role in tackling climate change.
Read more »
Factbox: COP27: Which countries have offered 'loss and damage' funds?As negotiators at COP27 wrangle over whether wealthy polluters should help vulnerable nations pay for costly extreme weather events fueled by climate change, a handful of small, European governments has stepped up to offer 'loss and damage' funds.
Read more »
COP27: Hosts launch plan to help poorest adapt to climate changeThe hosts of the COP27 climate talks on Tuesday launched a global plan to help the world's poorest communities withstand the impacts of global warming.
Read more »