1 December 2023, Dubai UAE - Pacific leaders and delegates attending the 28th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP28) in Dubai, UAE, have applauded the operationalisation of the Loss and Damage Fund, designed to assist countries vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.
They have also welcomed the pledges of USD100 million from the UAE, USD100m from Germany, GBD60million from the European Union, USD10million from Japan and USD17.5million from the United States made on the first day when the Fund was operationalised.
The decision was gavelled by the COP28 President, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, who described it as historical moment, noting the “speed at which the world came together, to get this fund operationalised within one year since Parties agreed to it in Sharm El Sheikh is unprecedented.”
The Pacific’s Political Champion for Loss and Damage (L&D), Honourable Ralph Regenvanu, of Vanuatu, welcomed the decision.
“This is historical indeed, it’s something the Pacific has been pushing for and so it’s great that the Transition Committee in its fifth iteration has come up with an agreement,” said Hon. Regenvanu. “We fully support the outcome and what has been agreed to here in Dubai, we welcome the pledges and we look forward to many more pledges by the developed and high emitting countries .”
The Fund was first agreed upon during COP27, held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt with the historic decision in Dubai coming on the back of an agreement reached by parties during 5 transitional committee meetings. The 5th transitional meeting hosted earlier this month in Abu Dhabi was added by the COP28 Presidency following the impasse reached at the 4th meeting, where Parties reached a resolution.
For the Pacific’s Political Champion for Loss and Damage, the breakthrough in Dubai is significant noting Vanuatu’s historical involvement in the journey. He recalled that discussions on the issue began in the 1990s when Vanuatu, as co-founding chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), first made the call for the climate convention to provide finance to address loss and damage from sea level rise.
“Those pleas went on deaf ears,” Hon. Regenvanu said. “The COP in 2013 finally, after an intense battle led by the Pacific, established the Warsaw International Mechanism, supposedly to address loss and damage associated with impacts of climate change, including extreme events and slow onset events, in developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. But after little more than a few meetings of an action-less executive committee, we realised this was not the breakthrough we so urgently needed.”
Many years later, at COP27 in Egypt in 2022, a decision was made to establish the new Loss and Damage Fund and funding arrangements. So where to from here?
“We need to fast track the setting up of the Fund so that the first funds can be disbursed next year,” said Hon. Regenvanu. “We appreciate the pledges made thus far but from the Pacific’s perspective, we need billions for this Fund. Obviously the lack of investment in adaptation funding and mitigation means the loss and damage bill is much bigger. We are also looking forward to much more commitments to the Adaptation Fund.”
The Loss and Damage fund has been a long-standing demand of developing nations on the frontlines of climate change coping with the cost of the devastation caused by ever-increasing extreme weather events such as drought, cyclones, floods, and rising seas.
Hon. Regenvanu also cautioned that there is a lot more work to be done.
“We need to look at innovative sources of finance, and I’m thinking of taxes on fossil fuels, taxes on fossil fuel intensive industries because that’s where the money is, especially fossil fuel subsidies. Money needs to come from there to feed the Loss and Damage Fund,” he said.
COP28 is taking place at the Dubai Expo City, on the outskirts of Dubai and is expected to host over 70,000 delegates, climate negotiators and other participants coming together to shape a better future for the planet. More than 300 Pacific delegates are in attendance.
COP28 President Dr. Al Jaber said: “This Fund will support billions of people, lives and livelihoods that are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. This historic moment proves the world can unite, can act, and can deliver. Over the next two weeks this Presidency will work with Parties to now deliver the highest-ambition response to the GST.”
The 28th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP28) in Dubai, UAE is taking place from Thursday 30 November 2023 – Tuesday 12 December 2023.
It is being attended by Pacific leaders and their delegations, who are advocating for the survival of Pacific communities who continue to be at the forefront of climate change impacts.
A key part of amplifying the One Pacific Voice at COP28 is the Moana Blue Pacific Pavilion, which is a Pacific partnership with Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia.
Another key part of the Pacific’s work at COP28 is the Pacific Delegation Office, which is a partnership with Aotearoa New Zealand. Both the Moana Pacific Pavilion and the Pacific Delegation Office are managed by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).