In the run-up to COP28, the UN Loss and Damage Transitional Committee issued recommendations on Saturday 4 November for the fund designed to support the countries most vulnerable to climate impacts.
These decisions, which emerged from discussions on 3 and 4 November in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), build on the progress made at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt). The proposed fund, which should be managed provisionally by the World Bank, is intended to offer subsidies to nations suffering severe climate losses. This point was initially contested by developing countries because of concerns about control and the adequacy of the institution for their needs.
Although the recommendations will now be forwarded to national governments ahead of COP28, some delegates, including Egypt’s Mohamed Nasr, have expressed reservations, as reported by Agence France-Presse, highlighting the lack of details on the size of the fund and a precise capitalisation plan. Tensions are heightened by the issue of unfulfilled promises by developed countries, in particular the commitment to provide $100 billion in annual aid to developing countries, which is still pending, as Harjeet Singh, from the NGO Climate Action Network, denounced to AFP.
In line with his speech on 31 October in Abu Dhabi (see EUROPE 13284/7), the European Commissioner for Climate Action, Wopke Hoekstra, speaking on the X network (formerly Twitter), emphasised the EU’s commitment to setting up the fund and stressed the need for financial mobilisation that takes into account current economic realities. He insisted that all capable parties should contribute, and that this commitment is essential for the global climate ambition, in particular the reduction of emissions. “To launch the fund at COP28, we still need clear and ambitious results on mitigation. With such a result, the first EU contributions become possible and I will continue to prepare the ground with our Member States to achieve this result”, he concluded.
As part of his preparations for COP28, Wopke Hoekstra travelled to Kenya on Monday 6 November for bilateral meetings with President William Ruto, the Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Forestry, Soipan Tuya, and the Minister of Finance and Cabinet Secretary of National Treasury and Economic Planning, Njuguna Ndung’u. He also met with representatives of civil society and the political community.
On 7 November, the European Commissioner will visit an EU-funded project supporting regional capacity for monitoring, analysing and communicating meteorological models in the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) region of East Africa, with the support of the World Meteorological Organization, and plans to address the EU’s climate priorities in a speech at the University of Nairobi. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)