U.S. won’t block climate compensation for poor nations
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt — The United States has agreed to the creation of a fund to compensate poor, developing countries for climate damage, reversing decades of opposition and marking a major breakthrough in one of the most contentious issues at the heart of United Nations climate talks.
The change, confirmed by a Biden administration official, means the U.S. will no longer block a “loss and damage” fund that has long been sought by poor nations to help them cope with ongoing disasters such as storms, floods and drought that have been made more destructive by climate change.
The developing nations — largely from Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean and South Pacific — see the matter as one of justice, noting they did little to contribute to a crisis that threatens their existence.
“A positive outcome is close,” said Sherry Rehman, Pakistan’s minister for climate change, who is spearheading a group of 134 nations pushing for such a fund. “Not perfect or optimal, but one that addresses the basic demand of developing nations.”
The United States had been the main obstacle to such a fund out of a concern it could face potential liability as the country that has historically pumped the most greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. But the proposed language says countries would not be held legally liable for payments, and American negotiators, under great pressure from developing countries as well as some of its European allies, reversed course late Saturday.
Tina Stege, the climate envoy for the Marshall Islands, called the breakthrough an “important moment.”
“It has not been easy,” she said, referring to the decades that small island nations have spent arguing for a fund. “But, of course, we have a long night ahead, and we need all countries to agree,” she added. “We never celebrate until the gavel drops.”
By tradition, any agreement at U.N. climate talks requires the consent of every country; if one objects, talks can deadlock.
Even if negotiators from nearly 200 countries who are gathered in Egypt do agree in principle for funding on loss and damage, as the issue is known, huge hurdles remain. A draft agreement circulating at the summit would set up a committee to work over the next year to figure out exactly what form the fund should take, which countries should contribute and where the money should go.
The United States and the European Union are pushing for assurances that China would contribute to any fund created — and that the country would not be eligible to receive money from it. The United Nations currently classifies China as a “developing country,” which would make it eligible for climate compensation, even though it is now the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases as well as the second-largest economy. China has fiercely resisted being treated as a developed nation in global climate talks.