Lack of trust over the issue between developed and developing countries could hold up progress on other issues at the climate summit, writes Georgia Gratton
The committee working out the details of a loss and damage fund, to address the irreversible and unavoidable effects of climate change, reached a fragile consensus at a final meeting last week ahead of the UN Cop 28 climate summit in Dubai. But some countries' concerns about the recommendations — which will inform political discussions at Cop 28 — suggest a long road still lies ahead.
Cop 28 president-designate Sultan al-Jaber said that "deadlocks" were "broken" and "common ground" found, but developing country representatives made concessions. They accepted the outcome text "in the spirit of compromise and trying to move forward", Colombian negotiator Angela Rivera Galvis said. Countries struggled to reach agreement but were given little room for further edits. "This is a take it or leave it text," committee co-chair and Finnish representative Outi Honkatukia told negotiators towards the end of the meeting.
The transitional committee, set up by the UNFCCC — the UN's climate body — released its recommendations after a fifth meeting on 3-4 November. This was hastily convened after a fourth and supposedly final meeting failed to find consensus. Political negotiations at Cop 28 will use the text as a starting point, but specifics remain vague. Hashing out the details could hold up progress in other areas, such as the phase-out of fossil fuels.
There was no mention of an amount of money for the fund, while the text only urged voluntary contributions. "There are no mandatory financing obligations," Honkatukia told the committee. Developing countries had made previous calls for the fund to raise $100bn/yr by 2030. And the text suggested that the World Bank should be the fund's interim host — which developing countries had strongly rejected, citing administrative fees and bureaucracy. Developing nations had called for a fund hosted by the UNFCCC, which they said would reflect the body's principles. This includes common but differentiated responsibility — which refers to the duty of all countries to address climate change, but recognises different national circumstances — a term missing from the committee's text.
Constructive ambiguity
The text did not restrict eligible beneficiaries to the most vulnerable, as some developed countries called for at Cop 27. Those on the front line of climate change — least developed countries and small island developing states — will receive a minimum allocation. The recommendations refer to "developing countries that are particularly vulnerable", which the senior adviser to the World Resources Institute's global climate programme, Preety Bhandari, described as "constructive ambiguity".
Parties clashed at Cop 27 over which countries should benefit and which should pay in to a fund. Developing countries were adamant that all developing nations should benefit, while the EU argued that all wealthy, high-emitting countries should contribute. Germany's special envoy for climate policy, Jennifer Morgan, said that Germany "stands ready to fulfil its responsibility", and urged countries "able to contribute" to do so.
But discussions at Cop 28 are likely to reflect an ongoing lack of trust between developing and developed countries, as the former call for the latter to deliver on promised climate finance pledges. Recent climate talks have been dominated by calls for meaningful finance and progress stymied by trust issues. The theme looks likely to continue, as EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra explicitly tied the loss and damage deal to mitigation, meaning cutting emissions. "Deep emissions reductions this decade [are] the best way to minimise loss and damage," Hoekstra said. The agreement is "a crucial step forward", but must be linked to "the highest possible ambition on climate mitigation", he added.
