Climate news was marked by a major event: the first day of COP28 in Dubai. Climate experts were impressed by the discussions that took place, leading to the creation of a fund aimed at helping countries facing loss and damage caused by climate change.
The president of the COP28 conference, Sultan al-Jaber, described the decision as “historic”, stressing that his country, the United Arab Emirates, would contribute up to $100 million to this fund. Other countries have also made significant commitments, such as Germany, which pledged the same amount.
Developing countries have long sought to resolve the problem of lack of financing to deal with climate disasters, of which they are often the first victims, without being the main responsible – it is in fact the industrialized countries which have emitted the most of greenhouse gases.
Joe Thwaites, senior counsel at the Natural Resources Defense Council, called the commitments made immediately after the fund’s passage “unprecedented.”
Avinash Persaud, Barbados’ special climate envoy, who participated in discussions to finalize the fund, welcomed the agreement while stressing that a considerable amount of money would still be needed to meet the needs.
“It should be a fund of $100 billion a year, and we’re not going to get there overnight. It’s a lot of money, more than half of the aid budgets around the world,” he said. declared Persaud.
Lola Vallejo, climate program director at sustainability think tank IDDRI, welcomed the creation of the fund on the first day of COP28 as “an excellent and very constructive start”, while stressing that questions remain pending, particularly on the eligibility of beneficiary countries and the sustainability of funding.
Despite these outstanding questions, this decision shows how the world can mobilize quickly to deal with the devastation left by natural disasters such as Tropical Storm Daniel which hit Libya with significant flooding in September, or Cyclone Freddy which hit several African countries at the start of the year.
The creation of the fund was a crucial step at last year’s UN climate conference in Egypt, but it had not been finalized.
Even after this agreement, many details remain to be resolved regarding the “loss and damage fund”, such as its size, long-term administration and other aspects.
A recent United Nations report estimates that up to $387 billion will be needed each year for developing countries to adapt to climate change..
The fund will be hosted by the World Bank for the next four years, with a representative from a developing country serving on its board. The goal is to launch it by 2024.
This development marks an important step in the fight against climate change and shows that international cooperation is essential to confront the challenges posed by global warming. However, much remains to be done to ensure an adequate response to the losses and damage caused by climate change and to guarantee sufficient financing for the most vulnerable countries.