Southern countries step up pressure at COP27 for climate damage and loss fund

This Thursday, at COP 27, developing countries demanded that some form of fund be quickly created for harm caused by climate change. The UN climate conference in Egypt concludes on Friday.

“We believe that establishing a loss and damage fund is an adequate response to the pain caused by extreme weather events,” Francisco Javier Canal Albán, deputy minister of environmental planning for the District of Colombia, said at a news conference. “There is an imperative for moral and climate justice,” he added.

Held in the middle of the COP27 negotiations, the press conference brought together the largest group of countries in the UN system (G77 with 134 members), the least developed countries (LDC), islands (AOSIC) and eight Latin American countries. It is a member of AILAC (Independent Association of Latin America and the Caribbean).

Pakistani Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman added that COP27 should end with “at least a political statement” regarding the creation of this fund or mechanism, an old request from Southern countries.

The discussion about this funding opened a year ago at COP26 in Glasgow. Officially, nearly 200 negotiating countries still have two years to reach an agreement.

Developed countries, especially the United States, do not want a new fund dedicated to the intricate issue of compensation for the consequences of industrialization and greenhouse gas emissions.

“To delay climate justice would be to deny justice,” Rehman added. However, the Pakistani added that it would be “premature” to withdraw from the talks.

Malcom Stufkens, the Honduran government’s undersecretary for the environment and also a member of AILAC, added that not only is the funding needed, but there is also a “problem of size” regarding the money to be paid.

Due to the accelerating effects of climate change, developing countries must intensify adaptation, emission reduction and energy transition measures.

Some observers estimate this to be equivalent to spending $580 billion in 2030.

“There is enough capital in the world to fill this gap,” Stufkens said.

“I am disappointed that political commitments have not been translated into action,” said Molwyn Joseph, Minister of the Environment for Antigua and Barbuda.