COP27 Leaders End Conference with a “Loss and Damage” Agreement

This week the United Nations (“UN”) met for the 27th Annual Climate Change Conference (“COP27”). Each year, negotiations commence on major agreements concerning climate change.

This year, the focus was on a possible “loss and damage” fund. The proposed “loss and damage” fund would send money to developing nations who tend to bear the brunt of climate change related catastrophes.

COP13, in Warsaw, ended with a smaller version of a “loss and damage” program that focused mostly on research and fact finding. However, at COP25 in Madrid, the international community expressed further interest in a “loss and damage” fund that would subsequently provide financial tools to support developing countries.

Activists argue the program is increasingly necessary as developing nations are impacted disproportionately by climate change as compared to their contribution to the crisis. Other activists caution that the agreement does not go far enough, failing to include liability, compensation, or mandatory contribution provisions.

The international community did not expect such an agreement to come out of the conference; however, after hours negotiations pushed through the agreement. The agreement renders the conference a success for most spectators. The fund is a major accomplishment considering the US has historically been the major opponent of getting a “loss and damage” fund through the UN. Biden’s Administration changed the US’s tune and is participating in hammering out the deal.

The fund is just one part of the agreement that will come out of COP27.