Data Lab | COP27: Should India contribute to 'loss and damage' fund?

Even as many lamented its lack of ambition in combating the emissions, governments concluded this year's United Nations climate summit known as Cop27 on Sunday with a hard-fought agreement to establish a fund to assist developingcountries devastated by climate disasters.

The agreement for the so-called 'loss and damage fund' was largely praised as a victory for addressing the catastrophic effects of global warming on vulnerable nations. However, many nations claimed they were under pressure to abandon stricter promises to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius in order for the historic agreement on the fund to be implemented.

Biggest polluters

The agreement for a loss and damage fund represented a diplomatic victory for the small island countriesin persuading the 27-nation European Union and the United States to support the idea after they had long opposed it out of concern that it might subject them to legal liability for historical emissions.

The United States emerges as the biggest polluter when cumulative emissions are calculated as the sum of annual emissions from 1750 to 2021.

Polluter must pay

Prime Minister Gaston Browne of Antigua and Barbuda, speaking on behalf of small island states said, “We all know that the People’s Republic of China, India — they are major polluters, and the polluter must pay. I don’t think there is any free pass for any country, and I don’t say this with any acrimony.”

India will not pay

At the conclusion of the year's most significant climate meeting, Union Minister for Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav reportedly saidthat there was no question of India contributing any funds to the proposed loss and damage fundbecause it isthe responsibility of developed countries. He also addedthat India, one of the nations most negatively impacted by climate change, would rather seek funds for mitigation.

Per capita emissions

Figures for annual emissions are frequently used to contrast nations' contributions to climate change. But thesestatistics often reflect regional variations in population size. This graph displays per capita emissions to illustrate the average person's 'footprint' country-wise.

Indian average per capita emissions are 1.93 tonnes, which is around 7 times less than the United States, which standsat 14.86 tonnes, and 4 times less than China's, which standsat 8.05 tonnes in 2021.

The way forward

With the loss and damage fund, UN leader Antonio Guterres said the negotiations had "taken an important step towards justice," but had fallen short of addressingthe urgent carbon-cutting needed to combat global warming since global greenhouse gas emission cutsremained a contentious issue during Cop27.

According to Guterres, "Our planet is still in the emergency room. We need to drastically reduce emissions now and this is an issue this COP did not address."