DUBAI, United Arab Emirates
The UN climate summit clinched
an early victory Thursday, with delegates adopting a new fund to help poor
nations cope with costly climate disasters.The opening ceremony of the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP28, in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.
COP28 President Sultan Ahmed
al-Jaber said the decision sent a "positive signal of momentum to the
world and to our work here in Dubai".
In establishing the fund on
the first day of the two-week COP28 conference, delegates opened the door for
governments to announce contributions.
And several did, kicking off a
series of small pledges that countries hoped would build throughout the
conference to a substantial sum, including $US100 million from the COP28 host
United Arab Emirates, at least $US51 million from Britain, $US17.5 million from
the United States, and $US10 million from Japan.
Later, the European Union
pledged $US245.39 million, which included $US100 million pledged by
Germany.
The early breakthrough on the
damage fund, which poorer nations had demanded for years, could help grease the
wheels for other compromises to be made during the two-week summit.
Alden Meyer of the thinktank
E3G said the approval for the "loss and damage" fund, as it's been
called informally over the last two years, meant "not having either side
play games and using L&D as a bargaining chip tied to other issues."
Another task for the summit
will be the global stocktake, an assessment of countries' progress in meeting
the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to well below two degrees
Celsius.
The fund's adoption
"allows us now to focus on the global stocktake and the phase out of
fossil fuels and build-up of renewable energy," said Jennifer Morgan,
Germany's special climate envoy.
But some groups were cautious
about celebrating the fund's early adoption, noting there were still unresolved
issues including how the fund would be financed in the future.
"The absence of a defined
replenishment cycle raises serious questions about the fund's long-term
sustainability," said Harjeet Singh, head of global political strategy at
Climate Action Network International.
Adnan Amin, CEO of the COP28
summit, told Reuters this month the aim was to secure several hundred million
US dollars for the climate disaster fund during the event.
Pope Francis, who was forced
to cancel his trip to COP28 due to illness, sent a message on social media
platform X: "May participants in #COP28 be strategists who focus on the
common good and the future of their children, rather than the vested interests
of certain countries or businesses. May they demonstrate the nobility of
politics and not its shame."
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