Though $550 million is good to start up the LDF on its first day, it is far short of the billions required to actually address the needs of vulnerable communities in the Global South
Sultan Al Jaber reacts as the Loss and Damage Fund becomes operational on Day 1 of COP28. Photo: @COP28_UAE / X The 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, began November 30, 2023. Here’s a look at what happened on the first day of COP28.
The first day of COP28 went unexpectedly without much fuss, ending in a major accomplishment for the COP28 presidency. The Loss and Damage Fund (LDF) was finally operationalised on the first day of the climate conference without any major changes in text from the recommendations of the Transitional Committee (TC) to the COP28 presidency. The text was uploaded with minor changes on the night of November 29. The TC was set up to operationalise the LDF by the decision text on LDF at COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt in 2022. It met over five meetings in 2023 to come up with the recommendations for the COP28.
The fifth TC meeting ended with a broad consensus to set up the LDF with the World Bank as its interim host for four years. The hosting of the LDF by the World Bank came with conditions put forth by the developing countries on the bank. The conditions included nationally routed direct access to the LDF for vulnerable communities facing losses and damages from extreme weather events which are increasing in intensity and frequency as a result of global warming.
The conditions also included the clause that the policies of the board of the LDF would supersede the policies of the World Bank if such a situation arose. The LDF can also be accessed by countries which are not members of the World Bank without resorting to waivers. There are also clauses in the text which would lead to the exit of the World Bank as the host of the LDF in case the conditions are not acceptable to the bank or it fails to meet the conditions in the next three years.
After this period, there would be a re-evaluation and it would be ascertained if the World Bank is a good fit for the LDF. In all these cases, the LDF would be set up as an independent entity and a new host country would be chosen. After the adoption, Sultan Al Jaber, the COP28 president called on various countries who wanted to contribute to the newly operationalised LDF and many developed countries came forward with contributions to the fund. The major contribution came from the European Union with $245 million, with the total coming up to almost $550 million.
Though the amount of $550 million is good to start up the LDF on its first day, it is far short of the billions of dollars required to actually address the loss and damage needs of vulnerable communities in developing countries.
In his opening speech, COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber acknowledged the growing number of oil and gas companies pledging to cut methane emissions for the first time. The Presidency engaged proactively with the fossil fuel industry and is engaging with other high emitting sectors as well, he said.
Before the LDF was adopted, the adoption of agenda for the conference in the opening plenary of the COP 28 was carried out without any major disruptions. The possible disruptions were ironed out by the COP28 presidency the previous day in a heads of delegations meeting.
The Presidency was able to convince Parties who had included some agenda items for COP28 which could have become contentious. This included the negotiations on Article 2.1 (c) of the 2015 Paris Agreement which deals with “making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate-resilient development.”
Many other contentious amendments such as brought forth by Brazil on behalf of the BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) countries on the carbon border taxes proposed by the European Union were removed from the agenda. This ensured a smooth opening plenary.
The Eighth Technical Expert Dialogue on the new climate finance goal was completed on November 28, 2023. The main agenda for this meeting was assessing the progress of the technical dialogues on climate finance so far, and identifying key areas of focus for the coming year.
The need to ensure an outcome on the decision is reached by 2024 was highlighted. For the same, the need to fast-track engagement with ministers for translating technical aspects into political ones, build on lessons from the $ 100 billion finance goal as well as the Loss and Damage Fund TC meetings were emphasised.
The High Level Ministerial Dialogue on NCQG is to be held on December 3 at COP28. (Detailed reporting in this article)
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