COP27: EU agrees to loss and damage fund to help poor nations tackle disasters
COP27 summit at Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt
The creation of a loss and damage fund, which will help poor nations around the world to rebuild after major natural disasters, has dominated the conversation at this year’s COP27 summit. While the fund was not mentioned in the first draft of the summit declaration, the European Union has taken a massive step towards making it a reality. European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans submitted a proposal on Friday that made it clear that the EU member nations agreed to create the fund.
“We were reluctant about a fund; it was not our idea to have a fund. My reluctance was because I know from experience it takes time before a fund can be established, and more time before it is filled, whereas we have existing instruments. I really believe we could move faster with existing instruments [for climate finance]. But since they [the G77] are so attached to a fund, we have agreed,” he said.
The proposal to create the fund came from the G77 group of developing countries and it meant added onus on rich nations when it comes to contributing towards combating natural disasters. The rich countries were split on the fund but the EU approval is being considered to be a positive sign.
However, Timmermans added that the fund will be created with “clear conditions” and the majority of the money will be used towards helping the poorest and environmentally vulnerable countries.
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While several developing countries welcomed the stance taken by the EU, Yamide Dagnet, director for climate justice at the Open Society Foundations, demanded more clarity about the conditions.
“I expect Friday’s discussion to turn around the issue of defining vulnerability. Both the EU and the pair of ministers’ proposals on the table refer to the “most vulnerable countries” as those who should benefit from this fund – begging the question, of who is included and who is excluded into this framing, which has never been clearly defined in UN terms and could limit the benefits of the fund,” he told Reuters.