At the Cop15 summit in December, organized by China but hosted by Canada, governments are expected to agree a UN accord to halt the destruction of the natural world. Senior officials warned that the agreement on nature – the UN’s CBD – depended on strong climate commitments.
The world’s poorest populations will be hardest hit by the destruction caused by drought, melting ice and crop failure. According to one report, developing countries need $2 billion a year to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and tackle climate degradation. Rich countries account for only one in eight people in the world today, but are responsible for half of all greenhouse gases, so they have a clear moral responsibility to help.
Several countries have announced their intention to put their hands in their pockets to finance losses and damage in developing countries, for a total of more than 270 million, according to Carbon Brief. However, these funds will not be used to set up a new mechanism.
“For all these countries, with the exception of Austria, it’s not a question of new or additional money. Governments are simply robbing Peter to pay Paul, and redirecting the public money initially allocated to emissions reduction and adaptation towards loss and damage. Yet it is urgent and necessary to continue to act in parallel on the various fronts to contain global warming while providing concrete responses to the impacts”.
Fanny Petitbon of the NGO Care France
What’s more, there’s still a long way to go, since the costs of loss and damage are estimated at between $290 and $580 billion a year in developing countries by 2030, and up to $1,700 billion by 2050.
