COP27 agrees to set up fund to compensate climate damages

But No Pact On 'Phasing Down' Fossil Fuels

- Vishwa.Mohan @timesgroup.com

Showing remarkable politi-cal will, over 195 countries on Sunday agreed at the conclusion of the COP27 climate talks at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, to set up a “loss and damage fund” for supporting poor vulnerable countries that are victims of extreme weather, worsened by cumulative emissions of rich nations.

However, they could not agree to “phase down” all fossil fuels even as India and most EU nations wanted it included in the final COP27 decision to keep the 1.5-degree C goal alive to limit global warming. The issue of “loss and damage” found place in the agenda for the first time and the task of setting up a new fund looked difficult but the rich countries, including EU and the US, showed flexibility to make it happen.

They argued that the fund’s donor base should also be big economies like China and the beneficiaries must include only poor vulnerable countries. The points of donor base and beneficiaries will, however, be clarified by next year as big economies like India and China have not been in favour of being mandatory contributors to the fund. From India’s point of view, inclusion of “transition to sustainable lifestyles and sustainable patterns of consumption and production” in the COP27 cover decision is the big takeaway as the country has long been pitching for a paradigm shift from mindless and destructive consumption (in rich nations) to mindful and deliberate utilisation of resources to combat climate change.