Small island states will present a proposal for a “response fund” to help climate victims recover from snowballing impacts at next month’s Cop27 climate summit.
It is more than 30 years since vulnerable nations first demanded support to address the losses and damages caused by fossil-fueled storms, floods and sea-level rise. Rich countries, wary of endless liabilities, pushed back. But with costs of extreme weather mounting, the issue has become unavoidable. It is set to dominate negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
The Alliance of Small Island States (Aosis) has drawn up plans for a Loss and Damage Response Fund. This is an evolution of the “facility” proposed by developing countries and opposed by wealthy ones at the Cop26 Glasgow summit last year.
Michai Robertson, of Antigua and Barbuda, lead climate finance negotiator for Aosis, told Climate Home the fund could centralise and disperse public and private sources of finance to help developing countries rebuild after climate disasters.
The negotiating bloc is hoping to get broader backing from the group of 134 developing countries known as the G77.
