Progress at climate summit: Poorer countries should be compensated

The extension of the climate summit has apparently led to success in at least one point: According to information from several delegations, there has been an agreement on the issue of compensation for climate damage in the poorest countries.

At the climate conference in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, there seems to be agreement on one of the most controversial points: As the Maldives’ Environment Minister Aminath Shauna announced, negotiators have agreed to create a compensation fund for poor countries to compensate for climate damage.

“There is an agreement on ‘Loss and Damage’,” the minister told the AP news agency. This is what UN jargon calls the concept of compensation payments, with which poorer countries are to be compensated for the consequences of climate change.

Fund is intended to serve particularly affected states

The European Union delegation made a similar statement to the Maldivian minister. It is therefore planned that the fund should serve to compensate for climate-related damage – such as extreme weather or drought catastrophes – in particularly affected countries. This limitation had been an important requirement of the EU and other industrialized countries. However, all participants would still have to agree to the agreement during the course of the day.

It remains unclear who pays in

Apparently, there are still no stipulations on the difficult question of how the fund will be structured and who will pay into it. It is left open whether the compensation fund should be set up under the umbrella of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change or the Paris Climate Protection Agreement. The Framework Convention is based on the traditional division between industrialized and developing countries. The Paris Agreement is more open here, which could theoretically also open the way for payments from emerging countries like China.

Is China in the Compensation Fund?

China is considered the world’s largest CO2 emitter, but does not see itself as responsible historically. In a draft for an agreement on the equalization fund presented by the Egyptian conference management, it was said that the industrialized countries should be “urged” to pay into it. International financial institutions and private donors should also contribute.

Farewell to oil and gas not in the final draft

Another point in the draft of the eleven-page final paper is the demand for a gradual phase-out of coal worldwide. Farewell to oil and gas is still not required. Numerous states and climate activists had campaigned for this.

Yesterday, the participants decided to extend the COP27 climate summit by at least one day in order to reach an agreement. The issue of compensation was considered particularly problematic.