BLOG 2 WORLD WAITED FOR THIS TOO LONG: INDIA ON L&D AT COP 27

 

After three decades of pushing for compensation for 'Loss and Damage' caused by climate change, the 27^th Conference of Parties adopted the proposal. The parties agree to utilize the Santiago Network, established at COP 25 and to establish and operationalize a Loss and Damage fund particularly for nations most vulnerable to the climate crisis after nearly 40 hours of negotiation beyond the prescribed Friday deadline. A ‘transitional committee’ has been formed to work out the modalities regarding who will manage the fund, whether contributions are expected from large developing countries and what the fair share of contributors will be. The committee will make recommendations to enable the actual adoption of the fund at the next Conference of the Parties (COP) of the U.N.’s Framework Convention for Climate Change, to be held in the United Arab Emirates next year. India reacted to this by saying that World has waited for this too long. The agreement and pledges made on loss and damage aim to unlock greater ambitions for mitigation and adaptation. During COP 27, financial pledges for loss and damage funding came from multiple countries, including Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, and New Zealand, joining Denmark and Scotland, which had made pledges previously. The expected monetary compensation from the L&D fund is estimated to be nearly $500 billion and rising by $200 billion annually, a statement from the office of the President.

Besides Loss and Damage, COP 27 also saw the launch of a new five-year work program to promote climate technology solutions in developing countries. Regarding mitigation, a mitigation work programme was launched in Sharm el-Sheikh, aimed at urgently scaling up mitigation ambition and implementation. The work programme will start immediately following COP27 and continue until 2026 when there will be a review to consider its extension. Governments were also requested to revisit and strengthen the 2030 targets in their national climate plans by the end of 2023, as well as accelerate efforts to phase down unabated coal power and phase-out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies. The countries launched a package of 25 new collaborative actions in five key areas: power, road transport, steel, hydrogen and agriculture. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced a USD 3.1 billion plan to ensure everyone on the planet is protected by early warning systems within the next five years. The UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Expert Group on Net-Zero Commitments published a report at COP27, serving as a how-to guide to ensure credible, accountable net-zero pledges by industry, financial institutions, cities and regions. The G7 and the V20 (‘the Vulnerable Twenty’) launched the Global Shield against Climate Risks, with new commitments of over USD 200 million as initial funding. Implementation is to start immediately. Announcing a total of USD 105.6 million in new funding, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Walloon Region of Belgium, stressed the need for even more support for the Global Environment Facility funds targeting the immediate climate adaptation needs of low-lying and low-income states.

The Loss and Damage Fund as envisioned in the COP 27 is still far from the reality. It is yet to get a concrete shape and form. Another issue of concern is that whether other issues pertaining to climate change in the COP 27 would be taken before the global stocktake, a five-year appraisal by countries of the impact of their actions to curb climate change. For India Pallavi Das, from the Council for Energy, Environment and Water seems right to state that, ‘At COP27, India negotiated from a position of strength and ensured that the debate moved from coal phase out to fossil phase down.