PM calls for creation of “loss and damage” fund at COP27
The creation of a “loss and damage” fund at the COP27 climate summit, according to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, is the “first key step towards the aim of climate justice,” he stated on Sunday. The prime minister also praised Senator Sherry Rehman, minister of climate change, and her staff for their work.
Sherry had emphasised the enormous cost of climate “inaction” during her keynote speech at the Parliamentary Meeting at the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP-27) earlier this week. Shehbaz’s comments came as nations ratified a contentious final accord at the COP27 climate summit early on Sunday that establishes a fund to aid poor countries affected by climate disasters but does not step up efforts to combat the emissions that cause them.
In addition to praising the statement, the senator noted that it is a vital first step in reaffirming the fundamental ideas of climate justice. After difficult talks that lasted all night, the Egyptian COP27 presidency made the final language of the agreement public and convened a plenary meeting to swiftly approve it.
The text’s provision to establish a “loss and damage” fund to aid developing nations in bearing the immediate expenses of climate-related calamities, such as storms and floods, was rapidly accepted by the session.
However, it deferred many of the most contentious choices about the fund until the next year, when a “transitional committee” would give suggestions for nations to subsequently accept at the COP28 climate summit in November 2023.
Those suggestions would include “identifying and expanding sources of revenue,” which would address the contentious issue of which nations should contribute to the new fund.
The two-week conference has been dominated by demands for such a fund, extending the discussions past their Friday deadline.
PM calls for creation of “loss and damage” fund at COP27
Negotiators made no complaints as COP27 President Sameh Shoukry blasted through the final items on the agenda following a pause requested by Switzerland to study the final wording.
The agreement was completed by the time dawn dawned over the summit site in the Egyptian vacation town of Sharm el-Sheikh.
