Deal Agreed At Cop28 To Help Poor Countries Cope With Climate Crisis

Agreement on loss and damage fund reached on first day of summit

- Fiona Harvey, Nina Lakhani, Rowena Mason

A landmark deal to help the world's poorest and most vulnerable countries pay for the irreversible impacts of climate disaster was agreed on the first day of the Cop28 UN summit yesterday. The announcement that agreement had been reached on a loss and damage fund worth at least $429m (£340m) was met with a standing ovation from delegates in Dubai, where hundreds of heads of state and leaders are gathered.

As the summit began, the United Arab Emirates and Germany both pledged $100m to the loss and damage startup fund, which will aim to keep up with the rising costs caused by extreme weather and slow-onset disasters such as sea level rise, ocean acidification and melting glaciers. Pressure will now be on other rich nations to announce contributions as world leaders take to the stage today and tomorrow. About €225m (£194m) will come from the EU, $24.5m from the US and $10m from Japan.

In advance of his trip to Dubai, the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, was set to contribute £40m on behalf of the UK for the fund and a further £20m for early warning systems and disaster risk finance.

One charity, ActionAid, said the UK's contribution was a "derisory offer to millions of people facing climate catastrophe", but many nongovernmental organisations praised the overall setting up of the fund as a historic deal showing countries acknowledged loss and damage was already occurring.

The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, who is also attending the summit, criticised Sunak's government for "sending the wrong signals" on the climate on the day the prime minister boasted of having watered down his net zero targets, showing he was "not in hock to ideological zealots".