UN Secretary-General António Guterres in the historic session with the Group of G77 and China (Photo: The Metropolis)
Metropolis Special –
Following weeks of contentious deliberations and negotiations that went into overtime at this year’s COP27 in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh Egypt, developed countries agreed to assist developing countries to pay for the disastrous effects of climate change with the establishment of a “loss and damage” fund.
It represents the first time that states and organizations, including long-standing holdouts like the US and the EU, have concurred to create a fund for countries susceptible to climatic calamities made worse by pollution disproportionately created by wealthy, industrialized nations.
They also concurred that greenhouse gas emissions must be lowered by roughly half by 2030.
The accord also maintained the objective of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, stated this is “an important step toward justice”. However, He swiftly outlined the areas where justice is still lacking, citing the affluent nations’ long-delayed promise to provide 100 billion US dollars yearly in climate funding for the developing world as one example.
The definition of climate finance, one of the key concerns of Bangladesh, still remained a major bone of contention, which is the type of finance that developing countries need, versus the type of finance that is ultimately delivered.
The majority of the climate finance that has been mobilized so far has been in the form of loans and non-concessionary types of financing, which may cause poor countries, who are already bearing the brunt of climate change, to become further indebted.
