In a historic move, a loss and damage fund was agreed at the opening plenary of the first day of the Cop28 summit – something the global south has been demanding for decades. The Guardian’s Nina Lakhani reported that it was a “hard-won victory by developing countries that they hoped would signal a commitment by the developed, polluting nations to finally provide financial support for some of the destruction already under way”.
Loss and damage refers to the destruction the climate crisis is already wreaking on lives, livelihoods and infrastructure. Vulnerable and poor countries, which did little to cause the climate crisis, want to hold the biggest fossil fuel polluting countries liable for the pain and suffering they are experiencing from climate breakdown.
But there is a huge caveat to the agreed deal, which already contained various compromises. The $700m (£557m) so far pledged by wealthy nations most responsible for the climate emergency covers less than 0.2% of what is needed every year. Estimates for the annual cost of the damage have varied from $100bn-$580bn.
The funds should be new and additional to existing commitments, and come as grants not loans, say climate justice experts. But in most cases, the nature and timing of the pledged money remains unclear as few countries have released further details.
Shock over comments from the Cop28 president, Sultan Al Jaber
A few days into the conference, in a story that made headlines around the world, the Guardian’s Damian Carrington and the Centre for Climate Reporting revealed that Sultan Al Jaber had said in a video call last month that there was “no science” indicating that a phase-out of fossil fuels was needed to restrict global heating to 1.5C (2.7F).
Outcry from climate scientists followed and Al Jaber, who runs the UAE’s state-owned oil company, Adnoc, held an emergency press conference the following day in which he was forced to defend his views. He claimed his remarks were misrepresented and that he believed a phase-down and phase-out of fossil fuels was “inevitable and in fact essential”.
Defending progress made at the summit, a Cop28 spokesperson pointed to the progress on the loss and damage fund, launching a $30bn private market climate vehicle, bringing 51 oil companies to agree decarbonisation targets and 119 countries to sign a pledge to triple renewable energy. “This is just the beginning,” the spokesperson said.
Concerns this Cop is too dominated by the fossil fuel industry, however, were heightened again on Tuesday when an analysis showed a record number of fossil fuel lobbyists had access. This amounted to more than 2,400 people – or four times more than were registered the previous year.
Draft global stocktake text published with focus on fossil fuel language
A big focus this year is on and how the almost 200 countries at Cop28 will agree to some sort of negotiated text about fossil fuel reduction – either a phase-out or phase-down – in the global stocktake of progress on the goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5C agreed in Paris in 2015.
