Greenpeace welcomed the COP27 agreement to establish a Loss and Damage Finance Fund on Monday as an important foundation in building towards climate justice, warning against politicizing the matter.
Yeb Saño, Executive Director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia and Head of the Greenpeace delegation attending the COP said: “The agreement for a Loss and Damage Finance Fund marks a new dawn for climate justice. Governments have laid the cornerstone of a long overdue new fund to deliver vital support to vulnerable countries and communities who are already being devastated by the accelerating climate crisis.”
“Well into overtime, these negotiations have been marred by attempts to trade adaptation and mitigation against loss and damage. In the end, they were pulled back from the precipice by the concerted effort of developing countries standing firm and by climate activists’ demands for the blockers to step up.”
“Moving forward into a discussion of the details of the Fund, we need to ensure that the countries and corporations most responsible for the climate crisis make the biggest contribution,” he added.
“That means new and additional finance for developing countries and climate-vulnerable communities not just for loss and damage, but for adaptation and mitigation too. Developed countries must make good on the existing $100bn per year pledge to support low-income countries to deliver carbon-cutting policies and increase resilience to climate impacts. They must also implement their commitment to at least double funding for adaptation.”
“Encouragingly, a large number of countries from north and south voiced their strong support for phasing out all fossil fuels — coal, oil, and gas — which is what implementing the Paris Agreement will take. But they were ignored by this year’s COP Presidency. Petro-states and a small army of fossil fuel lobbyists were out in force in Sharm El-Sheikh to make sure that it did not happen,” Saño noted.
“In the end, if all fossil fuels are not rapidly phased out, no amount of money will be able to cover the cost of the resulting loss and damage. It is that simple. When your bathtub is overflowing, you turn off the taps, you don’t wait a while and then go out and buy a bigger mop!”
For her part, Executive Director of Greenpeace MENA Ghiwa Nakat said: “Tackling climate change and promoting climate justice is not about winners and losers. Either we make progress on all fronts, or we all lose. It must be remembered that nature does not negotiate, nature does not compromise.”
