Pakistan among 7 states to get climate disaster funding

The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, more commonly referred to as COP27, was the 27th United Nations Climate Change conference and being held from 6 November until 18 November 2022 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

It took placed under the presidency of Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry, with more than 90 heads of state and an estimated 35,000 representatives, or delegates, of 190 countries attended the moot. The conference has been held annually since the first UN climate agreement in 1992. It is used by governments to agree on policies to limit global temperature rises and adapt to impacts associated with climate change.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference - COP27, announced to handover the vice-chairmanship of the conference to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Among the 195 countries of the United Nations, Pakistan has received the honour as result of the effective voice raised by PM Shehbaz Sharif at global and regional forums, regarding the need for urgent climate action plan. Egypt's President Abdul Fattah Al-Sisi had invited Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to cochair the COP-27 meeting.

PM Sharif jointly chaired the roundtable conference along with president of Egypt and the prime minister of Norway, being held in Egypt's Sharm-el-Sheikh from November 6-8.

Following the recent floods, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had effectively voiced for an immediate action on climate change, at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Heads of State and Government, Samarkand and the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly, New York.

The prime minister's proposal for a global cooperation on addressing the challenge of climate change had received endorsement by several countries.

The international community should take joint responsibility for climate change, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said, as Islamabad sought "climate justice". The prime minister, speaking at the COP27 summit, said: "In Pakistan, more than 30 million people have been severely affected; floods caused widespread destruction due to unusual rains; 8-thousand-km-long roads, 3-thousand-kmlong railway tracks were affected."

The premier's two-day visit concluded following high-level engagements at the summit and its sidelines where he also conducted bilateral meetings with his counterparts. At the summit - alongside Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre - the premier co-chaired a high-level roundtable discussion on "Climate Change and the sustainability of vulnerable communities".

World leaders, policymakers and delegates from nearly 200 countries were in Egypt at the COP27 UN climate summit, which delegates kicked off with a deal to discuss compensating poor nations for mounting damage linked to global warming.

The prime minister highlighted that Pakistan has suffered losses worth $30 billion despite its carbon emissions being one of the lowest in the world.

"The [climate change] affected countries have to deal with this challenge with their own resources. Environmental justice requires that all countries take joint responsibility," he said. PM Shehbaz said the world has time and again discussed climate change, but no substantial results have come out of those discussions. He noted that in Pakistan, wheat, edible oil, and other goods have to be imported now after the floods destroyed agricultural crops. "On the one hand there's such a huge disaster and lack of resources and on the other hand import costs are major challenges." The prime minister said Pakistan requires billions of dollars for the rehabilitation of the flood-affected people and called upon the international community to aid the country.

During his visit, the PM attended the "Middle East Green Initiative Summit" hosted by the Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia Muhammad bin Salman and participated in a high-level breakfast event on "Scaling up action and support on losses and damages-the Global Shield Against Climate Risks" which was co-hosted by the Chancellor of Germany and President of Ghana.

The prime minister, at the summit, called for establishing a dedicated financing facility to address climate-induced 'loss and damage' and welcomed the agreement to formally discuss funding arrangements for loss and damage under the COP27 Agenda. The regular component of the COP27 would continue till November 18, 2022. In its capacity as the incumbent chair of G77 and China, Pakistan is leading the developing countries in the climate change negotiations, including in the thematic areas such as climate finance, adaptation, mitigation, and capacity building.

Earlier, he attended a high-level roundtable at COP27 on the "Scaling up Action and Support on Losses and Damages - the Global Shield Against Climate Risks". During the roundtable, the prime minister underscored that vulnerable developing countries such as Pakistan were already witnessing unprecedented devastating impacts of climate change, even though they have contributed very little to it. He underlined that the issue of "loss and damage" was one of the key priorities for Pakistan and welcomed its inclusion as an agenda item of COP27. The prime minister briefed the participants on the situation in the flood-hit areas of Pakistan and the actions being taken by the Government for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of flood-impacted areas.

The event was jointly hosted by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President of Ghana Nana Akufo-Addo on the significant topic of 'Loss and Damage' associated with Climate Change. The meeting was attended by a number of heads of state and government.

PM Shehbaz Sharif's endeavours were fruitful and it was announced at the COP27 summit in Egypt that Pakistan and six other nations facing climate risks - called 'path finder countries' - will be the first recipients of 'Global Shield' funding. Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Fiji, Ghana, the Philippines and Senegal were identified as the other recipients of the package by the Vulnerable 20 Group of Finance Ministers (V20) of 58 climatevulnerable economies and the Group of Seven (G7).

The 'Global Shield' initiative for prearranged financial support has been desi gned to be quickly deployed in times of climate disasters. According to the joint press release of V20, G7 and the German Ministry of Eco nomic Cooperation and Development, the Global Shield will start its implementation immediately after COP27. Aid programme 'Global Shield' unveiled at COP27, Germany to contribute 170m euros, pledges for more aid pour in.

Germany is providing some 170 million euros as seed contribution, of which 84m euros are core funding to the Global Shield and 85.5m euros for related climate risk finance instruments.

Further pledges of core funding to the Global Shield include 35m Danish kroner (about 4.7m euros) from Denmark, 10m euros from Ireland, 7m US dollars from Canada, and 20m euros from France.

Initial contributions inc l ude around 170m euros from other countries. Further con tributions by donors are expected to materialise soon.

Ghana's Finance Minister Ken OforiAtta and V20 Chair said: "This is a pathbreaking effort." He expressed the hope that the funding window will benefit the pre-existing structures whose performance remains to be proven.

"Our fiscal space is under constant threat and the inflationary pressures of climate change are closing out our options," he pointed out.

German Federal Development Minister Svenja Schulze said Germany stood by its responsibility to support vulnerable people and states in dealing with loss and damage.

As part of the 'climate prosperity plan' to reduce the 98 per cent financial protection sinkhole, the Global Shield will play a key role in resourcing financial and social protection packages "to protect our economy, our enterprises and our communities", the minister said.

Recent V20 research found that 98pc of the nearly 1.5 billion people in V20 countries do not have financial protection - a massive sinkhole for these countries whose workforce is mainly employed by small and medium enterprises.

According to this research, V20 countries have lost a total of $525bn to climate impacts since 2000.

German Minister Schulze said, "Under the German Presidency, the G7 have committed to scale up action and support on loss and damage and to work towards a 'Global Shield against Climate Risks', responding to the V20's call." Schulze said Germany stood by its responsibility to support poor and vulnerable people and countries in dealing with loss and damage.

"This launch sends a signal: We have heard the urgency and we are acting. We aim at overcoming differences even in challenging circumstances. Germany wants to be a bridge-builder," Schulze said.

In terms of implementation, the Global Shield will align behind vulnerable countries' "strategies for closing protection gaps using a broad range of appropriate instruments".

At the household and business level, these instruments comprise, for example, livelihood protection, social protection systems, livestock and crop insurance, property insurance, business interruption insurance, risk-sharing networks, and credit guarantees.

At the level of national and subnational governments, humanitarian agencies and NGOs, the Global Shield will support the integrated development of instruments used to ensure that money is available when needed (money in), and the processes to ensure that the money is spent on providing what the affected individuals and communities need when they need it most (money out).

The 'Global Shield' will increase protection for poor and vulnerable people by providing and facilitating substantially more and better pre-arranged finance against disasters.