World leaders have agreed on a “loss and damage fund” on the opening day of the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28), committing over US$300 million ($401 million) in a strong start to the annual climate summit.
COP28 President Sultan Al-Jaber hailed the “unprecedented” speed of the agreement, which is intended to pay poorer countries for the harm caused by climate change. “The hard work of many people over many years has been delivered in Dubai. The speed at which the world came together to get this fund operationalised within one year since Parties agreed to it in Sharm El-Sheikh [at COP27] is unprecedented.”
Host country United Arab Emirates (UAE) contributed US$100 million to the fund, tying with Germany for the largest commitment. The UK committed GBP40 million ($67.61 million) to the fund and GBP20 million for “other arrangements”, while the US committed US$17.5 million and Japan, US$10 million, among others.
The fund was agreed upon during COP27, held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, and is the outcome of negotiations through five transitional committee meetings.
“Loss and damage is essential even if the world meets climate mitigation goals because a ‘locked-in’ level of warming already impacts particularly vulnerable communities being hit by extreme weather events, such as storms and floods, reduced agricultural productivity and rising sea levels,” says the COP28 Presidency on Nov 30.
Parties will now turn their focus on the strongest possible response to the global stocktake, the world’s report card on progress toward Paris Agreement goals.
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COP28 UAE is taking place at Expo City Dubai from Nov 30 to Dec 12. The conference is expected to convene over 70,000 participants.
Al-Jaber assumed the role of COP28 President on Nov 30. In his first official speech as COP President, Al-Jaber says: “I pledge that I will run an inclusive and transparent process, one that encourages free and open discussion between all parties.”
He adds: “Let history reflect the fact that this is the Presidency that made a bold choice to proactively engage with oil and gas companies. We had many discussions. Let me tell you, it wasn’t easy. But now, many of these companies are committing to zeroing out methane emissions by 2030 for the first time. And many national oil companies have adopted net zero 2050 targets for the first time.”
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Some have been sceptical about Al-Jaber’s priorities, as the UAE’s Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology is also head of the state oil company Adnoc. The COP28 Presidency also faced controversy earlier this week, when leaked briefing documents revealed the UAE’s plans to discuss fossil fuel deals with 15 nations.
The documents — obtained by independent journalists at the Centre for Climate Reporting working alongside the BBC — were prepared by the UAE's COP28 team for meetings with at least 27 foreign governments ahead of the COP28 summit.
According to the BBC, the UAE team did not deny using COP28 meetings for business talks, and said “private meetings are private”.
Follow The Edge Singapore’s coverage of COP28 here.
