Climate talks generally known as COP27 in Egypt in November ‘should be the place for serious motion on loss and damage’, UN chief says.
The UN General Assembly passed a resolution on Friday for higher access to international financing to assist developing nations mitigate and adapt to increasingly calamitous climate change.
Wealthy countries’ unkept promise to supply $100bn a yr in climate change financing starting in 2020 is a recurring sticking point in international talks on the climate emergency.
So is a call from developing countries for a fund specifically designed to compensate for his or her “loss and damage” already suffered because of world warming largely attributable to industrialised nations.
In a speech to the General Assembly, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said UN climate talks generally known as COP27 opening in Egypt in November “should be the place for serious motion on loss and damage”.
“COP27 should be the place for clarity on vital funding for adaptation and resilience,” Guterres said.
Eventually yr’s COP26 conference in Glasgow, developed nations promised to double climate adaptation support to $40bn a yr by 2025. Nonetheless, $300bn a yr will likely be needed by developing countries for adaptation by 2030, in accordance with the UN.
Developing countries are the least liable for climate change however the ones that suffer essentially the most due to it.
Such is the case with the federal government of Pakistan where recent flooding killed some 1,700, destroyed or damaged two million homes, and left one-third of the country submerged.
Addressing this calamity, the UN General Assembly called on the international community to spice up humanitarian assistance to and rehabilitation of Pakistan.
Guterres said he’s working with the federal government of Pakistan to organise a high-level donors conference.
“For thus many with so little, the results of those floods will likely be felt not only for days and even months,” he said, adding this disaster is only a taste of what’s to return.
“Climate chaos is knocking on everyone’s door, right away,” said Guterres.
‘Paying a high price’
Germany wants the query of loss and damage from global warming to be discussed at this yr’s UN climate talks, Germany’s foreign minister said on Friday.
Vulnerable countries have long demanded that big polluters be held accountable for the results that their greenhouse gas emissions are having all over the world, including the tangible destruction attributable to extreme weather and sea level rise resulting from rising global temperatures.
But wealthy nations that account for the vast majority of planet-warming emissions because the start of the commercial era have largely opposed efforts to formally debate the “loss and damage” issue for fear they may need to pay climate reparations.
Speaking after a gathering along with her counterpart from Pakistan, German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said the recent devastating floods within the South Asian nation had shown “what dramatic consequences the climate crisis is having in all regions”.
“As one among the hardest-hit countries worldwide, Pakistan is paying a high price for global CO2 emissions,” Baerbock, a member of the environmentalist Greens party, told reporters in Berlin.
“That’s why Germany will work toward a good sharing of the prices on the COP27 in Egypt, putting the query of climate adaptation – but particularly, also the query of loss and damage – on the agenda,” she said, referring to the UN climate talks next month in Sharm el-Sheikh.
Caribbean nations, too, will unite to hunt loss and damage compensation for the impact of climate change at COP27. Small island states are amongst essentially the most affected by rising temperatures.
Caribbean leaders also highlighted the importance of tourism to regional economies and “the increasingly devastating impact climate change has on that industry”.
