On 20 November, the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27), that took place in the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh, took a historic decision to establish and operationalize a loss and damage fund.
Welcoming the decision and calling the fund essential, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that more needs to be done to drastically reduce emissions now. “The world still needs a giant leap on climate ambition. The red line we must not cross is the line that takes our planet over the 1.5 degree temperature limit.” He urged the world not to relent “in the fight for climate justice and climate ambition.”
“We can and must win this battle for our lives,” he concluded.
There are several takeaways from the COP27 climate change summit. One of which was the establishment of fund to Aid Countries facing severe damage from climate change. This was part of the successes of the summit because for nearly three decades, vulnerable countries have called for financial support to help them cope with the most severe impacts of climate change, only to be stonewalled by rich nations time and time again.
Unlike the establishment of fund, little progress was made on adaptation, this was because developed countries did not make significant headway towards honoring the commitment made as part of the COP26 Glasgow Climate Pact to double adaptation finance from 2019 levels by 2025. A roadmap for implementation of this goal was not agreed to as planned, leaving parties with less confidence that this goal will be met by 2025.
In spite this drawback, the Adaptation Fund received $230 million in pledges and contributions to be channeled to countries most vulnerable to climate impacts, some of which is fulfilling earlier commitments made at COP26.
Also Climate Finance Reforms Gained Traction as the COP27 decision reflects developing countries’ serious concern that developed countries’ commitment to provide $100 billion annually has still not been met, even as the need for finance grows ever-more obvious.
Many developing countries also expressed dissatisfaction with the way finance is being provided, including the large percentage coming as loans, increasing the debt burden in already debt-stressed countries, and the lack of accountability and transparency.
Participating countries also agreed to outcomes that reflected only modest, incremental progress on reducing emissions, despite a clear emissions gap between current national climate plans and what’s needed to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F).
The world awaits the global commitment to climate change and we hope both developed and developing countries will go beyond paper commitment to practicality to secure climate.
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