“Don’t fail us.” That was the content on a few of the placards brandished by campaigners at Cop27 demanding rich countries pay into a loss and damage fund.
The climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh delivered what vulnerable countries had asked for: a choice to determine a bespoke fund to assist climate victims get over disasters.
But as Mohamed Adow, a long-time campaigner in the UN climate process and director of Power Shift Africa, put it: the fund happens to be a clear vessel.
“The following task is to buy money flowing through it towards the frontline communities that require it.” As well as on that, the content in the climate frontlines stands: “Don’t fail us.”
Who pays into the fund is just about the next explosive question to become resolved between now and Cop28 in the UAE.
It’s about attributing blame for that cumulative impact of coal, gas and oil burnt because the industrial revolution and working out who's capable of pay.
Rich countries wish to spread the responsibility beyond countries classed as “developing” underneath the UN climate convention in 1992.
To find out who ought to be responsible, Joe Lo crunched the numbers. Spoiler, China doesn’t result in the list. And rich countries, notably the united states, that are still not putting enough climate money on the table might make the largest difference.
China overtook the united states as the world’s largest emitter around 16 years back. But cumulative per capita emissions since 1990 show China is nowhere close to polluting as the US, Germany or even the UK – early fossil fuel adopters. Within the world’s second largest economy, the typical Chinese person still earns just a third the income from the average European.
A broader debate on expanding the donor base for climate finance is originating on the track. This is arguably a more forward looking issue than climate damages caused by past emissions. Don’t expect people to stop asking: “What about China?”
The Pacific island of Vanuatu has little faith that countries will deliver what is needed to avoid and recover from life-threatening climate impacts. Inside a draft UN resolution published this week, it is urging countries to give the International Court of Justice a mandate to explain what states’ climate obligations are and the consequences for those causing climate harm.
The island, whose future hinges on the world meeting its climate goals, says greater than a 100 countries have expressed support for the initiative to determine clear legal avenues for climate justice. The warning stands: “Don’t fail us… or we will have you in court.”
