Details remain unresolved for COP28 loss and damage deal: experts

Many intricacies remain unresolved for the loss and damage fund deal established at this year's UN Climate Change Conference, COP28. This initiative aims to assist climate-vulnerable countries in managing the impacts of a warming planet, as emphasized by experts.

On the first day of COP28, participating countries reached a pivotal agreement to provide funding for those severely affected by climate change, including small island nations.

Subsequently, various nations, such as the United Arab Emirates—the host country for COP28—committed substantial pledges, with the UAE contributing $100 million. Additionally, several EU countries, including Germany, Italy and France, expressed their support through financial commitments.

Although hailed as a breakthrough for COP28, concerns arise about the clarity of the terms of validity for these pledges, according to Yuan Ying, China Chief Representative of the East Asia division of the international environmental NGO Greenpeace.

"Whether this money contributed by nations is a 1-year payment or a 2-year payment, or for a time period in the foreseeable future, and whether we need a medium- and long-term goal...All these issues will depend on the follow-up implementation steps," Yuan told CGTN during an interview.

Yuan referenced the $100 billion annual climate fund target set at the UN Climate Change Conference, Copenhagen 2009, to illustrate that once such a target is established, countries can collaborate to achieve it. 

The UN said that by the time COP28 concluded on Wednesday, more than $700 million had flown into the fund, but Yuan said that the sum comes nowhere near enough.

"Statistics that we have show that as of 2022, the value of the loss and damage that the vulnerable countries have faced because of climate change reached $1.5 trillion. As to how much money is needed to cope with the loss and damage by 2030, some scholars have estimated the amount to be at least $290 billion (per year). If you compare that with what we have already raised in the pool, you'll find that this amount of $700 million is far from enough," Yuan said.

Scientists assert that climate change is exacerbating extreme weather events, escalating the economic impact of occurrences like floods, droughts, heatwaves, hurricanes and wildfires.

Egypt's COP27 President, Sameh Shoukry, highlighted the escalating demand for climate finance.

"Rather than increasing climate finance from developed countries, actually it's decreasing in relation to the growing needs and the increasing costs of finance in developing countries," he said while addressing COP28.

For the first time, a deal was reached at COP28 to transition away from fossil fuels to avert the worst of climate change, signaling the eventual end of the oil age.

Laura Kuhl, assistant professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and International Affairs at Northeastern University, hopes that the transition could help bridge the huge gap between the short supply of fund and the growing demand for loss and damage finance.

"There's commitments and acknowledgment of the need to transition to renewable energy to address adaptation and loss and damage and yet we still have massive investments in new fossil fuel infrastructure occurring around the world and really shifting funding from subsidies and support for fossil fuels towards a transition would unlock a huge amount of finance and make a huge difference in bridging that gap," she told CGTN.

Kuhl took the Green Climate Fund, which is the largest UN dedicated fund for climate change, as an example to demonstrate the importance of the fund reaching vulnerable communities in a timely manner.

"In the Green Climate Fund, it takes on average more than two years for a funding proposal to be approved and a fifth of projects have taken three to five years to be approved. This is just not in keeping with the needs associated with loss and damage, so we really need to be thinking about some alternative mechanisms for allocating funding to getting funding on the ground quickly," she said.

Kuhl also pointed out the importance for the fund to be more inclusive in its eligibility.

"So something like a seawall is really easy to demonstrate that this is climate-related and not development (-related). But something like empowering women related to water access looks a lot like development but might actually address underlying climate vulnerabilities in a more holistic way," she added.

(Cover image via CFP)