REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt – Developing countries came to the UN climate summit with a mission: hold rich nations like the US and those in Europe accountable for their outsized contributions to the environmental crisis.
These developing countries scored a breakthrough on Sunday as tens of thousands of delegates, government leaders, activists, and corporate executives descended on Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, a resort town on the Red Sea where global talks got underway. The issue of "loss and damage" was officially added to the agenda for the first time in the history of the UN climate convention following a push led by Egypt and Pakistan, where flooding killed 1,700 this summer and inflicted an estimated $30 billion in damages.
The inclusion of so-called climate reparations sets up a debate over how to compensate poorer nations for the climate impacts they've already suffered but for which they bear little responsibility.
Egypt is an appropriate location for the talks, which will play out over two weeks. The entire African continent accounts for just 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions yet is among the most vulnerable to disasters like drought and heat waves. Millions of people from Kenya to Somalia are on the brink of famine, in part because of climate upheavals. The British Red Cross described the situation as the worst food crisis in parts of the continent in 40 years.
Wealthy countries like the US and those in Europe account for 80% of greenhouse gas emissions after more than a century of burning fossil fuels to industrialize their economies. They've repeatedly objected to discussing loss and damage during past UN climate negotiations over concern that such talks would result in enormous financial liabilities.
The US position shifted this year under President Joe Biden. A State Department spokesperson told Insider that the administration was open to the agenda item and would engage in talks on how to address loss and damage.
Brandon Wu, director of policy campaigns at ActionAid USA, a social-justice nonprofit, said he hopes the issue gets more than just lip service over the next two weeks at COP27, the shorthand for the UN's "conference of the parties" climate talks.
"This is a welcome shift from their previous unwillingness to engage in formal negotiations about loss and damage finance, but it's not anything more than that — a willingness to talk," Wu told Insider. "What matters is what they're willing to agree to."
ActionAid joined nearly 150 organizations last month in urging US climate envoy John Kerry to support the creation of a specific fund for loss and damage that is separate from financing for climate mitigation and adaptation projects in developing countries. More than a decade ago, rich nations promised to send $100 billion a year to poorer countries by 2020. Wealthy countries continue to fall short, according to a report released by Germany and Canada ahead of COP27.
Wu said a separate finance structure is needed because humanitarian assistance is reactive after disasters and doesn't always flow to the countries most in need — in some cases because they don't make headlines.
"Humanitarian aid historically hasn't built climate resilience," he added. "There were massive floods in Pakistan in 2010. Billions of assistance flowed there in 2010, and when a new round hit this year, they were in the same boat."
Scientists at World Weather Attribution found that more intense rainfall due to human-caused climate change, as well as inadequate infrastructure, high poverty rates, and economic instability, were all factors in the devastation in Pakistan.
Some developed nations have already stepped up. Scotland, which hosted last year's UN summit in Glasgow, became the first to pledge funding for loss and damage with a $2 million contribution. Denmark, in September, followed suit with a $13 million pledge.
If countries do agree to establish a separate fund on loss and damage, Wu said it could take years to hash out how it's set up, including how to calculate who pays what and ensure the money is distributed equitably.
