Pakistan among the first seven countries to receive climate funding under ‘Global Shield’ initiative by G7

On Monday, the Group of Seven leading economies launched an initiative called the “Global Shield” at the United Nations’ COP27 climate summit which will provide immediate funding to the countries when they are hit by the devastating impact of climate change.

Coordinated by the G7 president nation Germany, it will provide rapid access to funds for insurance and disaster protection after flooding, drought and hurricanes. The programme was developed in collaboration with ‘V20’ which is a group of 58 climate-vulnerable countries chaired by Ghana.

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A statement was issued by Berlin, in which it named seven countries – Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Fiji, Ghana, Pakistan, the Philippines and Senegal, as the first recipients of packages, which would be developed in the upcoming months. So far, Germany has contributed $175.17 million in funding to Global Shield while other countries including Denmark and Ireland have contributed a little over $41 million.

The first draft released on Monday reportedly highlighted two major points – the divide between rich and poor nations, while the V20 countries proposed that this fund should not be “operationalised” by November 2024.

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While some countries have been wary that it risked efforts to secure a substantive deal on financial help for so-called “loss and damage”, Germany’s economic cooperation and development minister Svenja Schulze said that the aim with these funds is to add to but not replace the progress on loss and damage.

“It is not a kind of tactic to avoid formal negotiation on loss and damage funding arrangements here…Global Shield isn't the one and only solution for loss and damage. Certainly not. We need a broad range of solutions,” said Schulze. However, some vulnerable countries are not yet persuaded as there is reportedly not a lot of clarity on the “insurance elements” of the deal.

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“Using insurance is a method in which the victim pays, just in installments in the beginning,” said a special envoy on climate finance Avinash Persaud to the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, reported Reuters. He also said that the loss and damage finance should be grant-based.

(With inputs from agencies)

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