COP27 in Egypt | The fund to help vulnerable countries finally adopted

After lengthy negotiations over an extension period, delegates from 200 countries at COP27 in Egypt have agreed to a historic agreement to support poor countries affected by climate change.

The agreement would allow the creation of a fund for the poorest countries which bear the full brunt of the consequences of climate change, even though they have contributed very little to global warming since the pre-industrial era.

The adopted text also calls for a “rapid” reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while reaffirming the objective of containing global warming to 1.5 degrees by the end of the century. Current promises, if fulfilled, would limit global warming to 2.4 degrees by the end of the century.

Note that the economic costs of losses in developing countries are estimated at between 250 and 580 billion dollars per year by 2030, indicates the Climate Action Network. According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), extreme weather events have killed over 410,000 people and affected 1.7 billion over the past decade.

This fund should not be confused with the commitment made in 2009 by rich countries to provide aid of 100 billion dollars to help developing countries in their energy transition. A promise that has not yet been fully fulfilled 13 years later.

“Historic Moment”

The agreement ratified by the delegations of the 200 countries present in Egypt constitutes “a historic moment”, affirms Caroline Brouillette, director of national policies at the Canada Climate Action Network. Present in Sharm el-Sheikh, M^me Brouillette recalls that developing countries have been asking for the establishment of such a fund for several years to help them cope with the consequences of climate change.

“It’s a huge achievement to get an agreement after thirty years of trying to put this on the agenda,” said Tasneem Essop, director of the NGO network Climate Action Network, in an interview with the France Media Agency.

“History. I really think it’s historic,” said Collins Nzovu, Zambia’s Minister of Environment.

The adopted text proposes “new financing agreements to help developing countries” to “mobilize new and additional resources”. This would make it possible to “create a loss and damage response fund”, the operation and financing of which will have to be developed by a “transition committee” by the next COP28 in the United Arab Emirates in 2023.

It should be remembered that the rich countries had been very reluctant for several years at the idea of ​​such financing, but the European Union created an opening on Thursday by accepting the principle of a “loss and damage response fund”, reserved for “more vulnerable” on an “enlarged contributor base”, implied to China, which has become considerably richer in 30 years.

For poor countries, this agreement represents an important victory, notes Caroline Brouillette. “Small countries and island states have been asking for years to have spaces where they have an equal voice with the United States and China to negotiate on climate issues. Tuvalu does not have access to the G20 and does not have a seat on the board of directors of the World Bank. »

According to M^me Scramble, the bill will continue to increase in the coming years and it will be all the more important if the current trend is not reversed.

For example, the World Bank has estimated the cost of the floods at $30 billion, which left a third of Pakistan under water for weeks and claimed millions of lives.

Conclusions of the final text

Contrary to the commitment made in Glasgow, in 2021, COP27 failed to revise upwards the level of commitments to reduce the use of fossil fuels, which are responsible for a very large part of human-made GHG emissions. .

The adopted text reaffirms the objectives of the 2015 Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming “well below 2°C” compared to the pre-industrial era, and if possible to 1.5°C .

The text stresses that the impacts of climate change would be much less significant at 1.5°C and shows the importance of continuing the “efforts” to respect this limit.

On the energy side, the text evokes the end of “inefficient fossil fuel subsidies”, but not the exit from oil or gas.

In order not to exceed the 1.5°C target, the planet must reduce its GHG emissions by 45% by 2030. However, according to the latest official forecasts, these should rather increase by 10% by the end of the year. end of the decade.

With Agence France-Presse