Power Shift Africa Foundation: The approval of the Climate Damage Compensation Fund is a great achievement, but it is incomplete because we have not yet agreed on the funds, beneficiaries and payers.
Greenpeace Middle East and North Africa: Approval of the fund is a historic step, but we fear political inaction and procrastination in implementation
– The Third Generation Foundation for Environmentalists: a historic fund.. We welcome the mention of renewable energy and the reform of financial institutions.. The results allow for a move forward, but it is limited
Civil organizations and associations active in the field of climate have welcomed the recognition by rich countries of the right of developing countries affected by climate change to obtain compensation for the damages they suffer, while their responsibility for environmental change is limited.
For the first time in the history of climate conferences, a clause was added to establish a fund to compensate climate damages and losses as one of the outcomes of the United Nations Climate Conference (COP 27), which was held with the participation of about 200 countries in the resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, between 8 and 20 November.
However, there is concern about the possibility of inaction and procrastination, especially since no agreement has been reached on the sums of money or the identity of the payers and beneficiaries, which are points added to other issues that civil society organizations are looking forward to making progress on in the coming years.
** A great achievement.. but
“The approval of the fund is a historic step to respond to the growing climate impacts, and this version of the United Nations Conference of the Parties has achieved what previous versions did not achieve,” said Mohamed Addo, CEO of the “Power Shift Africa” Foundation, which is active in the field of climate justice.
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He added that the negotiations went through stages, “At the beginning, there was a stumbling block in adding an item to establish a fund for damages and losses in the final outputs of the Sharm el-Sheikh conference.”
And he added, “But with the passage of time and pressures, it was added, which is a great achievement, but it is incomplete because we have not yet agreed on the (financial) amounts and the identity of the beneficiaries and payers.”
Addo also commended “the addition of a provision for the first time stipulating the need to amend the financial systems of multinational investment banks to support climate-friendly development.”
He pointed out that the text stated that “the global transition to a low-carbon economy is expected to require investment of at least 4 to 6 trillion dollars annually.”
He continued, “This amount of financing requires a transformation in the financial system, its structures and operations,” and a recommendation was added to reform the systems of multilateral development banks to accompany this change.
** Fossil fuels
Executive Director of Greenpeace Middle East and North Africa, Ghwa Al-Nukat, described the approval of establishing a special fund for losses and damages as a “historic step” on the road to achieving climate justice.
“We fear political inaction and the possibility of procrastination in implementation, as usual,” the executive director of the organization said in a statement during a conference.
And she continued in a press conference on the sidelines of “COP 27”: “Finally, the conference presidency listened to the calls and demands of the countries most affected by the effects of the climate crisis.”
However, she added: “But at the same time, unfortunately, the demands to abandon fossil fuels were ignored.”
And she added, “The presidency of the next year’s COP28 (in the UAE) must recognize that the only way to achieve climate justice is to dispense with fossil fuels in all their forms: coal, oil and gas.”
During two weeks of negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh, a large number of countries from the North and the South supported the principle of phasing out all forms of fossil fuels.
This path aims to achieve the goal of the Paris Agreement (for the year 2015) of limiting the rate of global warming and keeping it below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
However, this demand was ignored in the text of the final statement of the “COP 27” conference, which the NGOs attribute to the great influence exercised by oil countries and pressure groups affiliated with the fossil fuel sector on the conference.
** Reforming financial institutions
The Environmentalists’ Third Generation (E3G), a think-tank active in the field of climate and climate change, described the fund’s endorsement as “a step forward”.
It’s a “historic loss and damage fund in response to the growing climate impacts,” CEO Nick Mabey said in a video conference on November 21.
He also praised the explicit mention of renewable energy for the first time in the history of the Conference of the Parties as a way to address the energy crisis.
Mabe welcomed the steps to reform the international financial institutions, which “will provide an opportunity to launch more financial facilities for climate action.”
But he expressed concern that “the results allow for a movement forward, but it is limited,” and that “there is no guarantee that the acceleration required to keep the temperature rise below 1.5 degrees will occur.”
He pointed out that the tensions witnessed by the “COP 27” conference on ending the use of fossil fuels, stressing that the burden of addressing them will be transferred to the coming years.
